{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.671","julian_year":2026.671,"time":"2026-09-03T05:04:27.789Z","years_from_j2000":26.671,"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-38","name":"NGC 38","class":"spiral_galaxy_sa","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Spiral galaxy Sa","mag":14.34,"mag_band":"B","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":364634845.50494236,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":2.9457916666666666,"dec_deg":-5.586277777777777,"epoch_ra_deg":3.289266,"epoch_dec_deg":-5.436889,"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":"Pisces","discovered":"1881","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-38","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":14.34,"h_mag":10.08,"j_mag":10.75,"k_mag":9.8,"redshift":0.026802,"hubble_type":"Sa","wikidata_id":"Q43880","redshift_cmb":0.025608183531097062,"also_known_as":["Stephan XII"],"discovered_by":"Édouard Stephan","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[20464932.679924197,20464932.679924197]},"major_axis_arcmin":1.14,"minor_axis_arcmin":1.05,"wikipedia_article":"NGC 38","position_angle_deg":170,"surface_brightness":23.18,"radial_velocity_km_s":7927},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J00114698-0535103"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 818"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG -01-01-047"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 38"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 818"}],"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."}