{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.680","julian_year":2026.68,"time":"2026-09-06T11:13:57.234Z","years_from_j2000":26.68,"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-4961","name":"NGC 4961","class":"spiral_galaxy_sc","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Spiral galaxy Sc","mag":13.51,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":132477509.1047137,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":196.44820833333333,"dec_deg":27.73413888888889,"epoch_ra_deg":196.771155,"epoch_dec_deg":27.590167,"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":"Coma Berenices","discovered":"1785","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-4961","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":13.96,"h_mag":10.98,"j_mag":11.75,"k_mag":10.85,"v_mag":13.51,"redshift":0.008526,"hubble_type":"Sc","wikidata_id":"Q3393821","redshift_cmb":0.00941657754345715,"discovered_by":"William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[15055930.153003672,15055930.153003672]},"major_axis_arcmin":1.11,"minor_axis_arcmin":0.88,"position_angle_deg":106,"surface_brightness":22.73,"radial_velocity_km_s":2545},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J13054757+2744027"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 13033+2800"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F13034+2800"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 45311"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 45312"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +05-31-126"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 4960"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 4961"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 45311"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 45312"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J130547.56+274402.8"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J130547.56+274402.9"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 8185"}],"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."}