{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.677","julian_year":2026.677,"time":"2026-09-05T02:49:27.206Z","years_from_j2000":26.677,"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-2987","name":"NGC 2987","class":"spiral_galaxy_sab","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Spiral galaxy Sab","mag":13.93,"mag_band":"B","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":191621014.56332535,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":146.42279166666665,"dec_deg":4.941833333333333,"epoch_ra_deg":146.774114,"epoch_dec_deg":4.818264,"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":"Sextans","discovered":"1884","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-2987","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":13.93,"h_mag":10.43,"j_mag":11.17,"k_mag":10.15,"redshift":0.012442,"hubble_type":"Sab","wikidata_id":"Q1102282","redshift_cmb":0.013578059745137372,"discovered_by":"Édouard Stephan","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[16094468.407728687,16094468.407728687]},"major_axis_arcmin":1.31,"minor_axis_arcmin":0.6,"position_angle_deg":163,"surface_brightness":22.92,"radial_velocity_km_s":3707},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J09454148+0456309"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 09430+0510"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F09430+0510"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 27981"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +01-25-017"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 2987"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 27981"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J094541.47+045630.6"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 5220"}],"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."}