{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.670","julian_year":2026.67,"time":"2026-09-02T17:15:44.742Z","years_from_j2000":26.67,"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-959","name":"NGC 959","class":"spiral_galaxy_sd","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Spiral galaxy Sd","mag":12.48,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":null,"distance_method":null,"ra_deg":38.09975,"dec_deg":35.49463888888889,"epoch_ra_deg":38.508696,"epoch_dec_deg":35.613365,"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":"Triangulum","discovered":"1876","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-959","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":12.96,"h_mag":10.24,"j_mag":10.95,"k_mag":9.61,"v_mag":12.48,"redshift":0.001993,"hubble_type":"Sd","wikidata_id":"Q1040504","redshift_cmb":0.0012662157326255308,"discovered_by":"Édouard Stephan","ngc_type_code":"G","major_axis_arcmin":1.87,"minor_axis_arcmin":1.11,"wikipedia_article":"NGC 959","position_angle_deg":67,"surface_brightness":22.61,"radial_velocity_km_s":597},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J02322394+3529408"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 02293+3516"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F02293+3516"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 9665"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +06-06-051"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 959"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 9665"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 2002"}],"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."}