A strange star sits at the peak of the W in Cassiopeia: Gamma Cas, a binary with a secret only recently uncovered. | Published: April 26, 2026 Look north to spot the W shape of Cassiopeia near the horizon this evening. The star at the central peak of the W is Gamma Cas. Credit: Stellarium Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full  Sky This Week  column.  April 25: The Moon meets Regulus Let’s look north this evening to examine a strange star: Gamma (γ) Cassiopeiae, which sits at the central peak of the famous W in Cassiopeia the Queen.  Shining at magnitude 2.2, although it is quite bright, this sun has no official name bestowed by the International Astronomical Union. Sitting some 549 light-years away, Gamma Cas is a massive B-type star some five times hotter than our own Sun. But it has an additional distinction as the first known Be-type star, a rapidly rotating star that is flinging away its own atmosphere to form a disk of glowing hydrogen.…