Related papers: Evaluation of the ICRF stability from position tim…
The International VLBI Service for Geodesy & Astrometry (IVS) regularly provides high-quality data to produce Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP), and for the maintenance and realization of the International Terrestrial and Celestial…
We investigate the influence of random variations of the Galactic gravitational field on the apparent celestial positions of extragalactic sources. The basic statistical characteristics of a stochastic process (first-order moments, an…
Context: We introduce the computation of global reference frames from Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations at the Vienna International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS) Analysis Center (VIE) in detail. We focus…
Precision geodesy relies on the stability of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF), yet its reference sources, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), exhibit changes in source structure that can manifest as apparent shifts in their…
The Gaia optical reference frame is intrinsically undefined with respect to global orientation and spin, so it needs to be anchored in the radio-based International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) to provide a referenced and quasi-inertial…
We examine the relationship between source position stability and astrophysical properties of radio-loud quasars making up the International Celestial Reference Frame. Understanding this relationship is important for improving quasar…
The current state of the link problem between radio and optical celestial reference frames is considered. The main objectives of the investigations in this direction during the next few years are the preparation of a comparison and the…
A new list of physical characteristics of 4261 astrometric radio sources, including all 717 ICRF-Ext.2 sources has been compiled. Comparison of our data of optical characteristics with the official International Earth Rotation and Reference…
Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a strong, compact radio source believed to be powered by a super-massive black hole at the galactic center. Extinction by dust and gas in the galactic plane prevents observing it optically, but its position and…
The ICRF, currently based on the position of 717 extragalactic radio sources observed by VLBI, is the fundamental celestial reference frame adopted by the IAU in 1997. Within the next 10 years, the European space astrometry mission Gaia, to…
OCARS (Optical Characteristics of Astrometric Radio Sources) is a compiled catalog of various additional data associated with astrometric radio sources whose coordinates have been determined from very long baseline interferometry (VLBI)…
The highly-accurate optical reference frame GCRF (Gaia Celestial Reference Frame) is expected to be available in several years. By the same time, a new version of radio reference frame ICRF (International Celestial Reference Frame) will be…
The large number and all-sky distribution of quasars from different surveys, along with their presence in large, deep astrometric catalogs,enables the building of an optical materialization of the ICRS following its defining principles.…
We aim to investigate the overall properties of the ICRF3 with the help of the Gaia Data release 2 (Gaia DR2). This could serve as an external check of the quality of the ICRF3. The radio source positions of the ICRF3 catalog were compared…
We have measured the sub-milli-arcsecond structure of 274 extragalactic sources at 24 and 43 GHz in order to assess their astrometric suitability for use in a high frequency celestial reference frame (CRF). Ten sessions of observations with…
Between 1997 and 2004 several observing runs were conducted mainly with the CTIO 0.9 m to image ICRF counterparts (mostly QSOs) in order to determine accurate optical positions. Contemporary to these deep CCD images the same fields were…
Optical positions from the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey have been compared in detail with accurate radio positions that define the second realisation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF2). The comparison was limited to the IIIaJ…
The radio observations are based on dual frequency Mark--III VLBI data from 1979 until the end of 1993. Currently 436 sources define the celestial inertial frame. A comparison to the JPL94R01 catalog is made. Position vs. time plots of…
In this paper we outline several problems related to the realization of the international celestial and terrestrial reference frames ICRF and ITRF at the millimeter level of accuracy, with emphasis on ICRF issues. The main topics considered…
Reference systems and frames are crucial for high precision absolute astrometric work, and their foundations must be well-defined. The current frame, the International Celestial Reference Frame, will be discussed: its history, the use of…