{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.668","julian_year":2026.668,"time":"2026-09-02T03:09:30.739Z","years_from_j2000":26.668,"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-640","name":"NGC 640","class":"barred_spiral_galaxy_sba","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Barred spiral galaxy SBa","mag":15.5,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":342125888.89616287,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":24.853666666666665,"dec_deg":-9.401166666666667,"epoch_ra_deg":25.187621,"epoch_dec_deg":-9.264748,"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":"Cetus","discovered":"1886","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-640","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":15.42,"h_mag":12.28,"j_mag":12.88,"k_mag":11.86,"v_mag":15.5,"redshift":0.02502,"hubble_type":"SBa","wikidata_id":"Q1037837","redshift_cmb":0.024054861422125873,"discovered_by":"Francis Preserved Leavenworth","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[19812408.130666725,19812408.130666725]},"major_axis_arcmin":0.76,"minor_axis_arcmin":0.43,"position_angle_deg":147,"surface_brightness":23.25,"radial_velocity_km_s":7407},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J01392485-0924042"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F01368-0939"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 6130"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG -02-05-031"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 640"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 6130"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J013924.88-092404.2"}],"source":{"id":"openngc","name":"OpenNGC","url":"https://github.com/mattiaverga/OpenNGC","license":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"updated_at":"2026-09-01T22:58:55.274Z","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."}