{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.668","julian_year":2026.668,"time":"2026-09-01T23:22:35.457Z","years_from_j2000":26.668,"frame":"date","applied":"Proper motion, then precession and nutation. The catalogued J2000 position is carried along the great circle the object's own published motion puts it on, at a constant velocity, and the result is referred to the true equator and equinox of this instant. Those are separate things: the motion moves the object, and the rotation turns the grid under it by about fifty arcseconds a year, with nutation adding up to another seventeen.","excluded":"Parallax, the radial-velocity perspective term, aberration and refraction; each is below the accuracy of the catalogued positions themselves. An object with no published proper motion comes back where the catalogue has it rather than at a fabricated zero, and says so with a null pm_ra_mas_yr. A body with no fixed position is not propagated at all — its place comes from an ephemeris, which is what /api/v1/visible answers with."},"slug":"ic-159","name":"IC 159","class":"barred_spiral_galaxy_sbb","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Barred spiral galaxy SBb","mag":14.18,"mag_band":"B","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":171070898.40005383,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":26.604375,"dec_deg":-8.63661111111111,"epoch_ra_deg":26.938536,"epoch_dec_deg":-8.502125,"epoch_moved_arcsec":null,"pm_ra_mas_yr":null,"pm_dec_mas_yr":null,"orbits":null,"semi_major_axis_km":null,"periapsis_km":null,"mass_kg":null,"mass_msun":null,"constellation":"Cetus","discovered":"1892","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ic-159","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":14.18,"h_mag":11.65,"j_mag":12.32,"k_mag":11.51,"redshift":0.01307,"hubble_type":"SBb","wikidata_id":"Q3715478","redshift_cmb":0.012135008787698354,"discovered_by":"Stéphane Javelle","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[15700475.381334832,15700475.381334832]},"major_axis_arcmin":1.35,"minor_axis_arcmin":0.75,"position_angle_deg":28,"surface_brightness":23.12,"radial_velocity_km_s":3893},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J01462508-0838126"},{"catalog":"IC","designation":"IC 159"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 01439-0853"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F01439-0853"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 6505"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG -02-05-042"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 6505"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J014625.05-083811.8"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J014625.05-083811.9"}],"source":{"id":"openngc","name":"OpenNGC","url":"https://github.com/mattiaverga/OpenNGC","license":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"updated_at":"2026-09-01T22:58:55.274Z","attribution":"Data from SpaceCatalog.org. Individual records carry their source and license in `source`; attribution is required for CC-BY and CC-BY-SA rows."}