{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.667","julian_year":2026.667,"time":"2026-09-01T19:08:31.365Z","years_from_j2000":26.667,"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":"vega","name":"Vega","class":"a0v_white_main_sequence_star","category":"star","object_type":"A0V white main-sequence star","mag":0.03,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":0.604,"abs_mag_band":"V","distance_ly":25.044569775735578,"distance_method":"parallax","ra_deg":279.2346,"dec_deg":38.783692,"epoch_ra_deg":279.461636,"epoch_dec_deg":38.80782,"epoch_moved_arcsec":9.354,"pm_ra_mas_yr":201.02,"pm_dec_mas_yr":287.46,"orbits":null,"semi_major_axis_km":null,"periapsis_km":null,"mass_kg":null,"mass_msun":null,"constellation":"Lyra","discovered":"Antiquity","featured":true,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/vega","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":"For a century the zero point of the brightness scale, and the first star ever photographed. It spins so fast it is visibly flattened, and it was the pole star 12,000 years ago.","properties":{"wds_id":"18369+3846","companions":[{"measured":2002,"magnitude":14.53,"components":"AF","discoverer_code":"MET  11","separation_arcsec":22.3,"position_angle_deg":103},{"measured":2002,"magnitude":16.55,"components":"AG","discoverer_code":"MET  11","separation_arcsec":22.3,"position_angle_deg":92},{"measured":2002,"magnitude":19.4,"components":"AL","discoverer_code":"MBA   2","separation_arcsec":27,"position_angle_deg":71},{"measured":2002,"magnitude":18.3,"components":"AJ","discoverer_code":"MET  11","separation_arcsec":27.1,"position_angle_deg":335},{"measured":2002,"magnitude":20.5,"components":"AN","discoverer_code":"MBA   2","separation_arcsec":27.6,"position_angle_deg":47},{"measured":2002,"magnitude":18.23,"components":"AH","discoverer_code":"MET  11","separation_arcsec":27.7,"position_angle_deg":96},{"measured":2002,"magnitude":15.98,"components":"A,Ia","discoverer_code":"MET  11","separation_arcsec":29.4,"position_angle_deg":86},{"measured":2002,"magnitude":16.3,"components":"AM","discoverer_code":"MBA   2","separation_arcsec":29.4,"position_angle_deg":50},{"measured":2002,"magnitude":16.27,"components":"A,Ib","discoverer_code":"MET  11","separation_arcsec":29.9,"position_angle_deg":86},{"measured":2002,"magnitude":16.2,"components":"A,Ka","discoverer_code":"MET  11","separation_arcsec":33.9,"position_angle_deg":134},{"measured":2002,"magnitude":16.29,"components":"A,Kb","discoverer_code":"MET  11","separation_arcsec":34.1,"position_angle_deg":135},{"measured":2023,"magnitude":11,"components":"AC","discoverer_code":"STFB  9","separation_arcsec":79.4,"position_angle_deg":252},{"measured":2024,"magnitude":9.5,"components":"AE","discoverer_code":"STFB  9","separation_arcsec":83.1,"position_angle_deg":39},{"measured":2024,"magnitude":9.5,"components":"AB","discoverer_code":"H 5  39","separation_arcsec":85.3,"position_angle_deg":185},{"measured":2012,"magnitude":12,"components":"AO","discoverer_code":"SMR  33","separation_arcsec":89.5,"position_angle_deg":13},{"measured":2012,"magnitude":12,"components":"AS","discoverer_code":"SMR  33","separation_arcsec":150,"position_angle_deg":228},{"measured":2023,"magnitude":12,"components":"AQ","discoverer_code":"SMR  33","separation_arcsec":167.2,"position_angle_deg":121},{"measured":2023,"magnitude":12,"components":"AR","discoverer_code":"SMR  33","separation_arcsec":181.7,"position_angle_deg":263},{"measured":2023,"magnitude":12,"components":"AP","discoverer_code":"SMR  33","separation_arcsec":218.4,"position_angle_deg":85},{"measured":2023,"magnitude":12,"components":"AT","discoverer_code":"SMR  33","separation_arcsec":222.4,"position_angle_deg":245}],"wikidata_id":"Q3427","also_known_as":["Alpha Lyrae","Lucida Lyrae","alf Lyr","α Lyr","α Lyrae"],"spectral_type":"A0V","uncertainties":{"metallicity_fe_h":[0.37,0.37]},"color_index_bv":-0.001,"luminosity_solar":49.93441887213498,"metallicity_fe_h":-0.465,"wikipedia_article":"Vega","radial_velocity_km_s":-12.1,"spectral_type_source":"SIMBAD (2024A&A...690A.176N, quality C)","surface_gravity_log_g":3.96,"surface_temperature_k":9509,"metallicity_fe_h_source":"Median of 24 spectroscopic determinations in 26 papers, compiled from the literature (PASTEL, Soubiran+ 2016); the error bar is the scatter between them","proper_motion_ra_mas_yr":201.02,"proper_motion_dec_mas_yr":287.46,"stellar_parameters_method":"Spectroscopic determinations compiled from the literature (PASTEL, Soubiran+ 2016)"},"designations":[{"catalog":"Bayer/Flamsteed","designation":"3 Alpha Lyr"},{"catalog":"Common name","designation":"Vega"},{"catalog":"Gliese","designation":"GJ 721"},{"catalog":"Gliese","designation":"GJ 721.0"},{"catalog":"Gliese","designation":"Gl 721"},{"catalog":"HD","designation":"HD 172167"},{"catalog":"HIP","designation":"HIP 91262"},{"catalog":"HR","designation":"HR 7001"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 18352+3844"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F18352+3844"}],"source":{"id":"hyg","name":"HYG Database v4.1","url":"https://github.com/astronexus/HYG-Database","license":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"updated_at":"2026-08-30T09:56:50.739Z","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."}