{"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":"2026-09-01T13:56:24.044Z","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":"m77","name":"M77","class":"spiral_galaxy_sb","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Spiral galaxy Sb","mag":9.29,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":42922181.75283939,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":40.669625,"dec_deg":-0.013277777777777777,"epoch_ra_deg":41.013684,"epoch_dec_deg":0.101307,"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":"1780","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/m77","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":9.74,"h_mag":6.26,"j_mag":6.97,"k_mag":5.79,"v_mag":9.29,"redshift":0.00381,"hubble_type":"Sb","wikidata_id":"Q14017","redshift_cmb":0.003065625099761382,"also_known_as":["Cetus A"],"discovered_by":"Pierre Méchain","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[14117110.47418134,14117110.47418134]},"major_axis_arcmin":6.11,"minor_axis_arcmin":5.61,"wikipedia_article":"Messier 77","position_angle_deg":12,"surface_brightness":22.35,"radial_velocity_km_s":1140},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J02424077-0000478"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 02401-0013"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F02401-0013"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 10266"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +00-07-083"},{"catalog":"Messier","designation":"M 77"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 1068"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 10266"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 2188"}],"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."}