{"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":"2026-09-04T19:06:04.663Z","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-3887","name":"NGC 3887","class":"spiral_galaxy_sbc","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Spiral galaxy Sbc","mag":10.93,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":73418563.91366643,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":176.76904166666668,"dec_deg":-16.85461111111111,"epoch_ra_deg":177.11003,"epoch_dec_deg":-17.003794,"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":"Crater","discovered":"1785","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-3887","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":11.4,"h_mag":8.34,"j_mag":8.97,"k_mag":8.02,"v_mag":10.93,"redshift":0.004029,"hubble_type":"Sbc","wikidata_id":"Q671762","redshift_cmb":0.00523513889598104,"discovered_by":"William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[14342186.63119293,14342186.63119293]},"major_axis_arcmin":3.27,"minor_axis_arcmin":2.57,"wikipedia_article":"NGC 3887","position_angle_deg":10,"surface_brightness":22.54,"radial_velocity_km_s":1206},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J11470456-1651167"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 11445-1634"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F11445-1634"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 36754"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG -03-30-012"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 3887"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 36754"},{"catalog":"UGCA","designation":"UGCA 246"}],"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."}