{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.678","julian_year":2026.678,"time":"2026-09-05T17:12:12.457Z","years_from_j2000":26.678,"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-4617","name":"NGC 4617","class":"intermediate_spiral_galaxy_sabb","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Intermediate spiral galaxy SABb","mag":14.1,"mag_band":"B","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":227877959.32123753,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":190.27445833333334,"dec_deg":50.39341666666667,"epoch_ra_deg":190.5887,"epoch_dec_deg":50.245934,"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":"Canes Venatici","discovered":"1788","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-4617","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":14.1,"h_mag":10.14,"j_mag":10.88,"k_mag":9.83,"redshift":0.0155,"hubble_type":"SABb","wikidata_id":"Q1112930","redshift_cmb":0.016116607967709973,"discovered_by":"William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[16866356.153508697,16866356.153508697]},"major_axis_arcmin":2.81,"minor_axis_arcmin":0.52,"wikipedia_article":"NGC 4617","position_angle_deg":180,"surface_brightness":23.98,"radial_velocity_km_s":4610},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J12410588+5023364"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 12387+5039"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F12387+5040"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 42530"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +09-21-028"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 4617"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 42530"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J124105.86+502336.2"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 7847"}],"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."}