{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.653","julian_year":2026.653,"time":"2026-08-27T16:19:13.267Z","years_from_j2000":26.653,"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":"m87","name":"Virgo Galaxy","class":"elliptical_galaxy_e","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Elliptical galaxy E","mag":9,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":53500000,"distance_method":"literature value (curated)","ra_deg":187.70591666666667,"dec_deg":12.39111111111111,"epoch_ra_deg":188.045888,"epoch_dec_deg":12.242761,"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":"Virgo","discovered":"1781","featured":true,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/m87","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":"A giant elliptical galaxy of a trillion stars at the heart of the Virgo Cluster, with a jet of plasma streaming from the black hole at its centre — the first black hole ever imaged.","properties":{"b_mag":9.65,"h_mag":6.07,"j_mag":6.72,"k_mag":5.81,"v_mag":9,"redshift":0.0042,"hubble_type":"E","wikidata_id":"Q14041","redshift_cmb":0.005298148245412415,"also_known_as":["Virgo A"],"discovered_by":"Charles Messier","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[14350255.176928172,14350255.176928172]},"major_axis_arcmin":7.11,"minor_axis_arcmin":6.67,"wikipedia_article":"Messier 87","position_angle_deg":153,"surface_brightness":22.79,"radial_velocity_km_s":1256},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J12304942+1223279"},{"catalog":"Common name","designation":"Virgo Galaxy"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 12282+1240"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F12282+1240"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 41361"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +02-32-105"},{"catalog":"Messier","designation":"M 87"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 4486"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 41361"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J123049.41+122328.1"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 7654"}],"source":{"id":"openngc","name":"OpenNGC","url":"https://github.com/mattiaverga/OpenNGC","license":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"updated_at":"2026-08-27T16:03:54.983Z","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."}