DIVISION I / COMMISSION 8 / WORKING GROUP DENSIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL REFERENCE FRAME

Extract

A continuation of this WG was voted for at the IAU GA 2006 in Prague. The International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) is defined by the positions of 212 distant quasars at radio wavelengths. The primary, optical reference frame is the Hipparcos Celestial Reference Frame (HCRF), which is the Hipparcos Catalog without astrometric ‘problem’ stars (in: H. Rickman (ed.) 2001, Proceedings IAU XXIV General Assembly, Transactions IAU XXIVB (San Francisco: ASP), Resolution B1.2). The Tycho-2 catalog with its 2.5 million brightest stars forms the first step in the densification of the optical reference frame. However, the limiting magnitude of about V = 12 of the Tycho-2 catalog is not sufficient for most applications in astronomy and the goal of this IAU Working Group is to further extend the grid of highly accurate positions and motions toward more and fainter stars. The web site of this WG is at <ad.usno.navy.mil/dens_wg/>.