Star profile
HIP 28991
What is HIP 28991
Pictor is a discreet southern constellation, drawn like a painter's easel near the dazzling Canopus. There glows this orange star, cooler than our Sun yet wider, whose light took about 362 years to reach us. When it set out, Holland and Flanders were at the height of their painting golden age, and artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer were learning to tame light on canvas. Today that same light, after crossing whole centuries, arrives serenely at the eyepiece.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 28991 lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is January, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it never rises above the horizon.
- From Sydney it never sets and culminates about 62° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 28° N.
It ranks no. 5 in brightness among the 23 stars of Pictor in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Pictor, the brightest: it lies about 5° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 360 years ago.
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Leave your signature on HIP 28991
Your name and a message go up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for HIP 28991
- Constellation
- Pictor
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.04
- Distance
- 361.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 91.764° · Dec -62.155°
- Catalogue
- HIP 28991 · HD 42540
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Pictor
Pictor has 23 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Pictor3.24
- Beta Pictor3.85
- Gamma Pictor4.50
- Delta Pictor4.72
- Eta 2 Pictor5.05
- HIP 276215.16
- HIP 309325.20
- HIP 279475.29