← Back to dex
Common variable star 15 EP

HIP 10491

RA 33.8121° · Dec -10.8002° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 2 badges
15 pts · Common
Common 24 pts → Uncommon
  • Distant (>1000 ly) +10
  • Variable star +5
Total score 15

9 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (>1000 ly) · +10

Trivia

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 28.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 2.5 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
  • At 10% light speed. ≈ 16.1 thousand years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
  • Distance. 1607 light-years from Earth.

Look-back time

  • Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 419.

Saying hello

  • Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 3213 years round-trip.

Properties

absmag
2.497
bv
0.489
constellation
Cet
dist ly
1606.6797
mag
10.96
name
HIP 10491
spect
F7.5

About HIP 10491

HIP 10491 is a common variable star. It lies about 1,606.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 10.96 and has spectral type F7.5.

HIP 10491 is a common variable star worth 15 points across 2 science badges. Explore its facts, badges and place on the sky map, then add it to your dex on Spacedle.

How to see it

Look for HIP 10491 in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 10.96, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 10491 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.

Why HIP 10491 is a common variable star

HIP 10491 scores 15 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 2 science badges — Variable star and Distant (>1000 ly) — 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.

spacedle A daily roll through the real universe. © 2026 spacedle. Buy me a coffee

Sky imagery and survey data courtesy of Aladin Lite & CDS, Strasbourg. Object data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, JPL Small-Body Database, and the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue.