{"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":"2026-09-04T20:36:52.355Z","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-4240","name":"NGC 4240","class":"elliptical_galaxy_e","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Elliptical galaxy E","mag":14.27,"mag_band":"B","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":107642385.76189235,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":184.35150000000002,"dec_deg":-9.951638888888889,"epoch_ra_deg":184.697299,"epoch_dec_deg":-10.100873,"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":"Virgo","discovered":"1875","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-4240","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":14.27,"h_mag":9.59,"j_mag":10.26,"k_mag":9.36,"redshift":0.006471,"hubble_type":"E","wikidata_id":"Q1110112","redshift_cmb":0.0076614124924188065,"discovered_by":"Wilhelm Tempel","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[14713226.222639065,14713226.222639065]},"major_axis_arcmin":1.47,"minor_axis_arcmin":1.28,"position_angle_deg":90,"surface_brightness":23.97,"radial_velocity_km_s":1934},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J12172434-0957056"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 39411"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG -02-31-029"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 4240"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 4243"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 39411"}],"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."}