{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.673","julian_year":2026.673,"time":"2026-09-03T15:14:29.401Z","years_from_j2000":26.673,"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-2977","name":"NGC 2977","class":"spiral_galaxy_sb","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Spiral galaxy Sb","mag":13.27,"mag_band":"B","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":null,"distance_method":null,"ra_deg":145.94287500000002,"dec_deg":74.86022222222222,"epoch_ra_deg":146.599448,"epoch_dec_deg":74.737167,"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":"Draco","discovered":"1801","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-2977","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":13.27,"h_mag":9.99,"j_mag":10.71,"k_mag":9.78,"hubble_type":"Sb","wikidata_id":"Q1102229","discovered_by":"William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"G","major_axis_arcmin":2.08,"minor_axis_arcmin":1.05,"position_angle_deg":145,"surface_brightness":23.12},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J09434323+7452011"},{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J09434671+7451344"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 09388+7505"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F09388+7505"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 27845"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +13-07-035"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 2977"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 27845"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 5175"}],"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."}