{"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":"2026-09-02T03:08:37.619Z","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-944","name":"IC 944","class":"spiral_galaxy_sa","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Spiral galaxy Sa","mag":14.46,"mag_band":"B","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":345019964.276775,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":207.878625,"dec_deg":14.092222222222222,"epoch_ra_deg":208.20558,"epoch_dec_deg":13.959215,"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":"Boötes","discovered":null,"featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ic-944","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":14.46,"j_mag":10.75,"k_mag":9.67,"redshift":0.02336,"hubble_type":"Sa","wikidata_id":"Q3711535","redshift_cmb":0.024254772575351913,"ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[19895191.157194052,19895191.157194052]},"major_axis_arcmin":1.53,"minor_axis_arcmin":0.74,"position_angle_deg":107,"surface_brightness":23.68,"radial_velocity_km_s":6921},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J13513089+1405316"},{"catalog":"IC","designation":"IC 944"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 13490+1420"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 49204"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +02-35-019"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 49204"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J135130.86+140531.9"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J135130.87+140532.0"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 8766"}],"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."}