{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.666","julian_year":2026.666,"time":"2026-09-01T08:11:37.423Z","years_from_j2000":26.666,"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-281","name":"NGC 281","class":"h_ii_region","category":"nebula","object_type":"H II region","mag":null,"mag_band":null,"abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":null,"distance_method":null,"ra_deg":13.247291666666667,"dec_deg":56.62188888888889,"epoch_ra_deg":13.640732,"epoch_dec_deg":56.767792,"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":"Cassiopeia","discovered":"1881","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-281","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"redshift":-0.000112,"wikidata_id":"Q641074","also_known_as":["Pacman Nebula"],"discovered_by":"Edward Emerson Barnard","ngc_type_code":"HII","major_axis_arcmin":35,"minor_axis_arcmin":30,"wikipedia_article":"NGC 281","radial_velocity_km_s":-34},"designations":[{"catalog":"Cederblad","designation":"Ced 2"},{"catalog":"Cederblad","designation":"Ced 3"},{"catalog":"IAU cluster","designation":"C 0049+563"},{"catalog":"IC","designation":"IC 11"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 00494+5617"},{"catalog":"LBN","designation":"LBN 616"},{"catalog":"Lynds","designation":"LBN 123.17-06.28"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 281"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 281W"}],"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."}