Report on the Herstmonceux I.N.T. Parallax Programme

Abstract

In 1971 a pilot parallax programme was initiated on the 98-in. Isaac Newton Telescope at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. Nineteen stars between visual magnitude 15 and 19 and of high proper motion were put on the programme. The plates were taken at prime focus through the Wynne corrector. Observations are now complete for two of these stars. Because of time allocations and the desire to observe at maximum parallax factor, observations are made at large hour angles. All stars in each field are being measured on the GALAXY measuring engine and parallaxes and proper motions will be computed for all stars. The fields are being reduced using an overlap reduction technique.