Beta, Gamma, and Iota Serpentis form a distinctive triangular shape marking the head of the snake, with Kappa Serpentis (the proper name is Gudja[13]) being roughly midway between Gamma and Iota. The brightest of the four with an apparent magnitude of roughly 3.67, Beta Serpentis is a white main-sequence star roughly 160 parsecs distant.[14] It is likely that a nearby 10th-magnitude star[15] is physically associated with Beta, although it is not certain.[16] The Mira variable R Serpentis, situated between Beta and Gamma, is visible to the naked eye at its maximum of 5th-magnitude, but, typical of Mira variables, it can fade to below magnitude 14.[17] Gamma Serpentis itself is an F-type subgiant located only 11 parsecs distant and thus is quite bright, being of magnitude 3.84 ± 0.05.[18] The star is known to show solar-like oscillations.[19]