{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.686","julian_year":2026.686,"time":"2026-09-08T10:17:55.058Z","years_from_j2000":26.686,"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-4434","name":"NGC 4434","class":"elliptical_galaxy_e","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Elliptical galaxy E","mag":12.12,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":65820033.774213776,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":186.90283333333332,"dec_deg":8.154333333333334,"epoch_ra_deg":187.244836,"epoch_dec_deg":8.005592,"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":"1785","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-4434","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":12.96,"h_mag":9.44,"j_mag":10.07,"k_mag":9.21,"v_mag":12.12,"redshift":0.003566,"hubble_type":"E","wikidata_id":"Q1111430","redshift_cmb":0.0046952435111435875,"discovered_by":"William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[14276558.782305513,14276558.782305513]},"major_axis_arcmin":1.42,"minor_axis_arcmin":1.36,"position_angle_deg":75,"surface_brightness":22.59,"radial_velocity_km_s":1067},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J12273667+0809155"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 40886"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +01-32-069"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 4434"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 40886"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J122736.68+080915.6"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 7571"}],"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."}