{"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":"2026-09-02T02:45:54.366Z","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":"m8","name":"Lagoon Nebula","class":"nebula","category":"nebula","object_type":"Nebula","mag":5.8,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":4100,"distance_method":"literature value (curated)","ra_deg":270.92195833333335,"dec_deg":-24.380166666666668,"epoch_ra_deg":271.333703,"epoch_dec_deg":-24.379534,"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":"Sagittarius","discovered":"1654","featured":true,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/m8","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":"A vast star-forming cloud in Sagittarius, split by the dark lane that gave it its name. Binoculars show it as a smudge; long exposures show a furnace.","properties":{"b_mag":5,"v_mag":5.8,"redshift":0.000013,"wikidata_id":"Q1146340","discovered_by":"Giovan Battista Hodierna, Guillaume Le Gentil","ngc_type_code":"Neb","major_axis_arcmin":45,"minor_axis_arcmin":30,"wikipedia_article":"Lagoon Nebula","radial_velocity_km_s":4},"designations":[{"catalog":"Common name","designation":"Lagoon Nebula"},{"catalog":"LBN","designation":"LBN 25"},{"catalog":"Lynds","designation":"LBN 006.06-01.23"},{"catalog":"Messier","designation":"M 8"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 6523"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 6533"}],"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."}