The U.S. Naval Observatory is in the process of making new reductions of the Astrographic Catalogue (AC) using a modern reference system, the ACRS, which represents the system of the FK5. The data from the Paris Zone, whose plates are centered between declinations +18 and +24 degrees (eq. 1900), have been analyzed for scale, rotation, tilt, coma, magnitude equation, radial distortion and distortions introduced by the use of reseaux in the Carte du Ciel program. The result is a positional catalog of over 253,000 stars on eq. J2000.0, epoch of observation. Additionally, all stars have been matched with the Tycho Input Catalog (revised); those numbers have been added for additional identification purposes.
The catalog contains results of approximately 60000 photoelectric meridian circle observations made at the Perth Observatory for 1156 FK4 and 1433 FK4 Supplement stars south of declination +38 degrees. The catalog reports proper motions and positions at epoch and equinox B1950.0. The data used to derive the epoch 1950 positions are included in the catalog so that originally observed positions may be recomputed and used for geodetic purposes until the FK5 becomes available. The mean error of an individual position in this catalog is 0.07" in right ascension and 0.13" in declination at a zenith distance of 45 degrees, while the mean error of the PERTH 75 system is 0.05" in right ascension and 0.10" in declination. The positions do not contain the large systematic errors of the FK4 (Fricke and Kopff 1963), which can be, for example 0.3" in right ascension for declination < -75 degrees. Data in the catalog included FK4 (FK4S) number, observed visual magnitude, spectral type used for computing refraction, right ascension and declination (equinox and epoch B1950.0), annual proper motion, observed residuals, numbers of accepted observations, and code to indicate if parallax and/or radial velocity has been used in computing apparent positions.
The Photoelectric Astrolabe Mark I (PHA I) has been revised with a new combined prism which could work as an almucantar with zenith distance of 45 degree, to measure continuous declinations at the latitude of Irkutsk, Russia ({phi}=52 degree). The PHA I has been working at the astronomical base of VS NIIFTRI in Irkutsk since Nov. 1995, based on an international cooperation agreement of near 4 years for star catalogue and EOP measurements. The first observing program was ended in June 1997, giving corrections in both right ascension and declination to 200 stars with no blind zone in declination determination, which most astrolabe catalogues in the world usually would have.
Differential astrometry measurements from the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems have been combined with lower precision single-aperture measurements covering a much longer timespan (from eyepiece measurements, speckle interferometry, and adaptive optics) to determine improved visual orbits for 20 binary stars. In some cases, radial velocity observations exist to constrain the full three-dimensional orbit and determine component masses. The visual orbit of one of these binaries - {alpha} Com (HD 114378) - shows that the system is likely to have eclipses, despite its very long period of 26 years. The next eclipse is predicted to be within a week of 2015 January 24.
The Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems monitored 51 subarcsecond binary systems to evaluate whether tertiary companions as small as Jovian planets orbited either the primary or secondary stars, perturbing their otherwise smooth Keplerian motions. Six binaries are presented that show evidence of substellar companions orbiting either the primary or secondary star. Of these six systems, the likelihoods of two of the detected perturbations to represent real objects are considered to be "high confidence," while the remaining four systems are less certain and will require continued observations for confirmation.
The Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) monitored 51 subarcsecond binary systems to determine precision binary orbits, study the geometries of triple and quadruple star systems, and discover previously unknown faint astrometric companions as small as giant planets. PHASES measurements made with the Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) from 2002 until PTI ceased normal operations in late 2008 are presented. Infrared differential photometry of several PHASES targets were measured with Keck Adaptive Optics and are presented.
In 2003-2004, we obtained 115 new observations of Phoebe, the 9th Saturnian faint satellite (visual magnitude of about 16.5). We used a large CCD detector (2048 x2048 pixels) mounted on the 1.56m astrometric reflector at the Sheshan Station, near Shanghai. In our reduction, an up-to-date catalogue of stars, UCAC2 (Zacharias et al., 2004, Cat. <I/289>), was chosen to ensure a proper astrometric calibration. A comparison of our observations to three recently available, high quality ephemerides, including the JPL SAT185 by Jacobson (SAT185, JPL satellite ephemeris), has shown that most of our observed positions of Phoebe present an accuracy of some tens of mas, which appears to be a very high level for such a faint satellite.
We present the results of the long-term uniform observations of visual double and multiple stars by 26-inch refractor. Set of observations (all plates) is measured with one measuring device for each star. For 259 pairs of visual double stars which were included in 194 systems, relative positions are calculated. For 127 pairs relative motions are also calculated. For 48 stars with well certain parallaxes from the Gipparkos catalog also the bottom limits for the total masses of systems are received under condition of the elliptic orbit is possible (dynamic mass). Comparison of accuracy of three measuring devices, which were applied to measurement of photographic plates, is executed. It is shown that differences in distances between the components, measured on the different measuring devices can reach 0.2" that proves advantage of uniform observations.
At the Engelhardt Astronomical Observatory (EAO), we observed photographic positions of 113 Galactic Radio Sources (GRS) in the system PPM catalogue (Rizvanov & Dautov, 1998, Kinematics and physics celestial bodies, 5, 457). Analysis of their accuracy is made by comparison with the Hipparcos catalogue (Perryman et al., 1997, Vat. <I/239>) and astrometric catalogue of radio stars in the radio window from the article of Walter et al. (1990A&AS...86..357W).