{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.676","julian_year":2026.676,"time":"2026-09-04T19:38:54.552Z","years_from_j2000":26.676,"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-3242","name":"Jupiter's Ghost Nebula","class":"planetary_nebula","category":"nebula","object_type":"Planetary nebula","mag":7.7,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":3568.150772221173,"distance_method":"Statistical distance scale for planetary nebulae (Stanghellini+ 2008)","ra_deg":156.192,"dec_deg":-18.642222222222223,"epoch_ra_deg":156.515094,"epoch_dec_deg":-18.778269,"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":"Hydra","discovered":"1785","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-3242","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":8.6,"h_mag":12.46,"j_mag":12.1,"k_mag":11.75,"v_mag":7.7,"redshift":0.000016,"wikidata_id":"Q223282","discovered_by":"William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"PN","major_axis_arcmin":0.42,"wikipedia_article":"NGC 3242","distance_reference":"NGC 3242","radial_velocity_km_s":5},"designations":[{"catalog":"Caldwell","designation":"C 59"},{"catalog":"Common name","designation":"Jupiter's Ghost Nebula"},{"catalog":"ESO","designation":"ESO 568-005"},{"catalog":"ESO","designation":"ESO 568-5"},{"catalog":"HD","designation":"HD 90255"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 10223-1823"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F10223-1823"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 3242"},{"catalog":"PN","designation":"PN G261.0+32.0"}],"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."}