{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.677","julian_year":2026.677,"time":"2026-09-05T09:01:16.285Z","years_from_j2000":26.677,"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-879","name":"NGC 879","class":"irregular_galaxy_i","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Irregular galaxy I","mag":15.5,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":172941388.3295564,"distance_method":"redshift (CMB frame), flat ΛCDM with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc","ra_deg":34.21333333333333,"dec_deg":-8.964027777777778,"epoch_ra_deg":34.54455,"epoch_dec_deg":-8.839324,"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-879","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":15.35,"h_mag":12.47,"j_mag":13.19,"k_mag":12.61,"v_mag":15.5,"redshift":0.01309,"hubble_type":"I","wikidata_id":"Q1039921","redshift_cmb":0.012266483908913939,"discovered_by":"Francis Preserved Leavenworth","ngc_type_code":"G","uncertainties":{"distance_ly":[15734944.454367356,15734944.454367356]},"major_axis_arcmin":0.77,"minor_axis_arcmin":0.64,"position_angle_deg":16,"surface_brightness":23.38,"radial_velocity_km_s":3899},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J02165120-0857504"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 8705"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 879"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 8705"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J021651.20-085750.4"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J021651.20-085750.5"}],"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."}