{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.665","julian_year":2026.665,"time":"2026-08-31T22:50:36.772Z","years_from_j2000":26.665,"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":"m96","name":"M96","class":"spiral_galaxy_sab","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Spiral galaxy Sab","mag":9.21,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":58523501.76130591,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":161.69058333333334,"dec_deg":11.819944444444443,"epoch_ra_deg":162.04469,"epoch_dec_deg":11.678631,"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":"Leo","discovered":"1781","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/m96","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":10.08,"h_mag":6.57,"j_mag":7.24,"k_mag":6.32,"v_mag":9.21,"redshift":0.003012,"hubble_type":"Sab","wikidata_id":"Q14354","redshift_cmb":0.004176391769006971,"discovered_by":"Pierre Méchain","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[14219453.353361223,14219453.353361223]},"major_axis_arcmin":8.26,"minor_axis_arcmin":5.51,"wikipedia_article":"Messier 96","position_angle_deg":5,"surface_brightness":23.14,"radial_velocity_km_s":902},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J10464574+1149117"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 10441+1205"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F10441+1205"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 32192"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +02-28-006"},{"catalog":"Messier","designation":"M 96"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 3368"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 32192"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J104645.67+114911.8"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 5882"}],"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."}