{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.683","julian_year":2026.683,"time":"2026-09-07T11:58:51.141Z","years_from_j2000":26.683,"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-6642","name":"NGC 6642","class":"globular_cluster","category":"cluster","object_type":"Globular cluster","mag":10.24,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":24787.8847064725,"distance_method":"Globular-cluster distance scale (Harris 2010)","ra_deg":277.97591666666665,"dec_deg":-23.476138888888887,"epoch_ra_deg":278.384589,"epoch_dec_deg":-23.457133,"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":"Sagittarius","discovered":"1784","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-6642","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":11.3,"v_mag":10.24,"redshift":-0.000111,"wikidata_id":"Q1146847","discovered_by":"William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"GCl","major_axis_arcmin":3.9,"wikipedia_article":"NGC 6642","distance_reference":"NGC 6642","radial_velocity_km_s":-33},"designations":[{"catalog":"ESO","designation":"ESO 522-032"},{"catalog":"ESO","designation":"ESO 522-32"},{"catalog":"ESO","designation":"ESO 522-SC32"},{"catalog":"IAU cluster","designation":"C 1828-235"},{"catalog":"MWSC","designation":"MWSC 2941"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 6642"}],"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."}