{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.675","julian_year":2026.675,"time":"2026-09-04T17:08:29.584Z","years_from_j2000":26.675,"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-5238","name":"NGC 5238","class":"intermediate_spiral_galaxy_sabd","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Intermediate spiral galaxy SABd","mag":13.4,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":null,"distance_method":null,"ra_deg":203.677125,"dec_deg":51.61366666666667,"epoch_ra_deg":203.947859,"epoch_dec_deg":51.475954,"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":"1789","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-5238","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":13.95,"v_mag":13.4,"hubble_type":"SABd","wikidata_id":"Q1117967","discovered_by":"William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"G","major_axis_arcmin":1.75,"minor_axis_arcmin":1.44,"wikipedia_article":"NGC 5238","position_angle_deg":162,"surface_brightness":23.68},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J13344249+5136494"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS Z13325+5152"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 47853"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 47857"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +09-22-082"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 5238"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 5238-1"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 47853"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 47857"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J133442.50+513649.2"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J133442.51+513649.2"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 8565"}],"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."}