RA 120.9792° · Dec 26.5206° · openngc
3 more points to reach Rare.
IC 491 is an uncommon galaxy. It lies about 303,813,659.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cnc and shines at apparent magnitude 15.3.
A galaxy: a gravitationally bound city of stars, gas and dark matter, turning so slowly that a single rotation takes hundreds of millions of years.
Look for IC 491 in the constellation Cnc. At apparent magnitude 15.3, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.
Like any astronomical target, IC 491 is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
IC 491 scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Galaxy, Outside our galaxy entirely, Spiral galaxy, On the zodiac and Faint fuzzy (mag > 13) — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.