Star profile
HIP 19461
Northern polar starWhat is HIP 19461
Near the celestial north pole, within Cepheus, beats a yellow G-type star, a distant sister of the Sun some 380 light-years away. Its light set out around 1646, when Pascal was exploring the vacuum with his mercury barometers. It barely shifts for an observer in the northern hemisphere —holding almost still, like a yellow candle hung from the axis of the sky.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 19461 lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is December, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 61° up.
- From New York it never sets and culminates about 50° up.
- From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 9° S.
It ranks no. 30 in brightness among the 95 stars of Cepheus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alderamin, the brightest: it lies about 31° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 380 years ago.
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Astronomical data for HIP 19461
- Constellation
- Cepheus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.10
- Distance
- 379.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 62.512° · Dec 80.699°
- Catalogue
- HIP 19461 · HD 25007
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Cepheus
Cepheus has 95 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlderaminAlpha Cepheus2.45
- ErraiGamma Cepheus3.21
- AlfirkBeta Cepheus3.23
- 19 Cepheus5.07
- 31 Cepheus5.08
- HIP 232655.09
- HIP 1083175.11
- HIP 1072305.18