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A star in the southwestern quadrant of Crater the Cup, approaching its border with Hydra, the Water Snake. This star was historically linked with the constellation of Hydra, and indeed its name Al Sharas means 'the rib', referring to a spine emerging from the monster's back. It is now more usually represented as part of the base of the goblet shape that gives Crater its name.
Despite its designation as 'Beta' Crateris, in fact its comparatively faint visual magnitude of +4.5 makes Al Sharas the fourth brightest of Crater's stars, the brightest being Delta Crateris somewhat to the north. Physically, Al Sharas is a white star of the subgiant classification, and examination of its spectrum shows that it has a white dwarf star as a binary companion.
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