{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.676","julian_year":2026.676,"time":"2026-09-04T22:40:54.599Z","years_from_j2000":26.676,"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-6217","name":"NGC 6217","class":"spiral_galaxy_sbc","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Spiral galaxy Sbc","mag":12.82,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":62399654.41668517,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":248.16333333333336,"dec_deg":78.19816666666667,"epoch_ra_deg":247.849692,"epoch_dec_deg":78.140048,"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":"Ursa Minor","discovered":"1797","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-6217","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":11.88,"h_mag":8.99,"j_mag":9.68,"k_mag":8.68,"v_mag":12.82,"redshift":0.004556,"hubble_type":"Sbc","wikidata_id":"Q596095","redshift_cmb":0.00445207310546758,"discovered_by":"William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[14249063.60885143,14249063.60885143]},"major_axis_arcmin":2.24,"minor_axis_arcmin":1.63,"wikipedia_article":"NGC 6217","position_angle_deg":155,"surface_brightness":22.12,"radial_velocity_km_s":1363},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J16323921+7811535"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 16350+7818"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F16350+7817"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 58477"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +13-12-008"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 6217"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 58477"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 10470"}],"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."}