{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.683","julian_year":2026.683,"time":"2026-09-07T07:42:04.918Z","years_from_j2000":26.683,"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":"ngc-2438","name":"NGC 2438","class":"planetary_nebula","category":"nebula","object_type":"Planetary nebula","mag":10.8,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":3962.7999892584326,"distance_method":"Statistical distance scale for planetary nebulae (Stanghellini+ 2008)","ra_deg":115.45995833333335,"dec_deg":-14.735777777777777,"epoch_ra_deg":115.76839,"epoch_dec_deg":-14.798367,"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":"Puppis","discovered":"1786","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-2438","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":10.1,"j_mag":17.02,"v_mag":10.8,"redshift":0.000257,"wikidata_id":"Q840775","discovered_by":"William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"PN","major_axis_arcmin":1.07,"wikipedia_article":"NGC 2438","distance_reference":"NGC 2438","radial_velocity_km_s":77},"designations":[{"catalog":"HD","designation":"HD 62099"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 07395-1437"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 2438"},{"catalog":"PN","designation":"PN G231.8+04.1"}],"source":{"id":"openngc","name":"OpenNGC","url":"https://github.com/mattiaverga/OpenNGC","license":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"updated_at":"2026-09-02T19:50:56.720Z","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."}