{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.667","julian_year":2026.667,"time":"2026-09-01T14:29:55.152Z","years_from_j2000":26.667,"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-438","name":"IC 438","class":"intermediate_spiral_galaxy_sabc","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Intermediate spiral galaxy SABc","mag":12.07,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":151118740.54243436,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":88.25033333333333,"dec_deg":-17.876083333333334,"epoch_ra_deg":88.546162,"epoch_dec_deg":-17.869592,"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":"Lepus","discovered":null,"featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ic-438","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":12.74,"h_mag":9.93,"j_mag":10.59,"k_mag":9.7,"v_mag":12.07,"redshift":0.010474,"hubble_type":"SABc","wikidata_id":"Q3712861","redshift_cmb":0.010730993670413858,"ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[15350995.96432652,15350995.96432652]},"major_axis_arcmin":2.8,"minor_axis_arcmin":1.82,"wikipedia_article":"IC 438","position_angle_deg":63,"surface_brightness":23.7,"radial_velocity_km_s":3124},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J05530007-1752337"},{"catalog":"ESO","designation":"ESO 555-009"},{"catalog":"ESO","designation":"ESO 555-9"},{"catalog":"ESO-LV","designation":"ESO-LV 555-0090"},{"catalog":"IC","designation":"IC 438"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 05508-1753"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F05507-1753"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 18047"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG -03-15-025"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 18047"},{"catalog":"UGCA","designation":"UGCA 115"}],"source":{"id":"openngc","name":"OpenNGC","url":"https://github.com/mattiaverga/OpenNGC","license":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"updated_at":"2026-08-30T09:56:50.739Z","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."}