{"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":"2026-09-02T00:37:14.968Z","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-686","name":"NGC 686","class":"elliptical_galaxy_e_s0","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Elliptical galaxy E-S0","mag":13.4,"mag_band":"B","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":207165317.7412908,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":27.23391666666667,"dec_deg":-23.79813888888889,"epoch_ra_deg":27.548585,"epoch_dec_deg":-23.664366,"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":"Fornax","discovered":"1785","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-686","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":13.4,"h_mag":9.5,"j_mag":10.17,"k_mag":9.24,"redshift":0.015487,"hubble_type":"E-S0","wikidata_id":"Q1038287","redshift_cmb":0.014667561549057906,"discovered_by":"William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[16413939.46732198,16413939.46732198]},"major_axis_arcmin":1.34,"minor_axis_arcmin":1.06,"position_angle_deg":5,"surface_brightness":22.77,"radial_velocity_km_s":4607},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J01485612-2347535"},{"catalog":"ESO","designation":"ESO 477-006"},{"catalog":"ESO","designation":"ESO 477-6"},{"catalog":"ESO-LV","designation":"ESO-LV 477-0060"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 6655"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG -04-05-008"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 686"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 6655"}],"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."}