{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.672","julian_year":2026.672,"time":"2026-09-03T10:49:04.047Z","years_from_j2000":26.672,"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-4968","name":"NGC 4968","class":"lenticular_galaxy_s0","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Lenticular galaxy S0","mag":14.79,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":155218299.2318956,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":196.77491666666668,"dec_deg":-23.67702777777778,"epoch_ra_deg":197.13718,"epoch_dec_deg":-23.820688,"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":"Hydra","discovered":"1836","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-4968","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":13.85,"h_mag":9.63,"j_mag":10.55,"k_mag":9.48,"v_mag":14.79,"redshift":0.009967,"hubble_type":"S0","wikidata_id":"Q1116007","redshift_cmb":0.011019714515287049,"discovered_by":"John Frederick William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[15420032.390799573,15420032.390799573]},"major_axis_arcmin":2.28,"minor_axis_arcmin":1.04,"position_angle_deg":57,"surface_brightness":24.3,"radial_velocity_km_s":2973},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J13070597-2340373"},{"catalog":"ESO","designation":"ESO 508-006"},{"catalog":"ESO","designation":"ESO 508-6"},{"catalog":"ESO-LV","designation":"ESO-LV 508-0060"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 1304-234P11"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 13044-2324"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F13043-2324"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 45426"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG -04-31-030"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 4968"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 45426"}],"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."}