VLBI International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF)
Short Name:
I/251
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
of the 1998AJ....116..516M paper: A quasi-inertial reference frame is defined based on the radio positions of 212 extragalactic sources distributed over the entire sky. The positional accuracy of these sources is better than about 1mas in both coordinates. The radio positions are based upon a general solution for all applicable dual-frequency 2.3 and 8.4GHz Mark III very long baseline interferometry data available through the middle of 1995, consisting of 1.6 million pairs of group delay and phase delay rate observations. Positions and details are also given for an additional 396 objects that either need further observation or are currently unsuitable for the definition of a high-accuracy reference frame. The final orientation of the frame axes has been obtained by a rotation of the positions into the system of the International Celestial Reference System and is consistent with the FK5 J2000.0 optical system, within the limits of the link accuracy. The resulting International Celestial Reference Frame has been adopted by the International Astronomical Union as the fundamental celestial reference frame, replacing the FK5 optical frame as of 1998 January 1.
We report a 3yr, 18 epoch, VLBI monitoring study of H_2_O masers in the subparsec, warped, accretion disk within the NGC 4258 AGN. Our immediate goals are to trace the geometry of the underlying disk, track rotation via measurement of proper motion, and ascertain the radii of masers for which centripetal acceleration may be measured separately. The monitoring includes 4 times as many epochs, 3 times denser sampling, and tighter control over sources of systematic error than earlier VLBI investigations. Coverage of a 2400km/s bandwidth has also enabled mapping of molecular material 30% closer to the black hole than accomplished previously, which will strengthen geometric and dynamical disk models. Through repeated observation we have also measured for the first time a 5uas (1sigma) thickness of the maser medium.
NRAO 530 is an optically violent variable source and has been studied with multi-epoch multifrequency high-resolution very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations. NRAO 530 was monitored with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at three frequencies (22, 43 and 86GHz) on 10 consecutive days in 2007 May during observations of the Galactic Centre (Sgr A*). Furthermore, analysis of archival data of NRAO 530 at 15GHz over the last 10 years allows us to study its detailed jet kinematics. We identified the compact component located at the southern-end of the jet as the VLBI core, consistent with previous studies.
A large number (~2 million) of VLBI observations have been reduced in order to re ne the measured coordinates of the observed radio sources. The data reduction was carried out in the OCCAM package using the least squares colocation method. Corrections to the coordinates of 642 objects were derived. The accuracy of the catalog is no worse than 0.2 milliseconds of arc for stable sources.
We report on the first wide-field, very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) survey at 90cm. The survey area consists of two overlapping 28deg^2^ fields centered on the quasar J0226+3421 and the gravitational lens B0218+357. A total of 618 sources were targeted in these fields, based on identifications from Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (WENSS) data. Of these sources, 272 had flux densities that, if unresolved, would fall above the sensitivity limit of the VLBI observations. A total of 27 sources were detected as far as 2{deg} from the phase center. The results of the survey suggest that at least 10% of moderately faint (S~100mJy) sources found at 90 cm contain compact components smaller than ~0.1"-0.3" and stronger than 10% of their total flux densities.
VLBI observations of a H2O maser were done at five epochs in 1980-82 with a 5 station VLBI network (see 1992ApJ...393..149G). A model was fitted to each peak in any spectral channel exceeding 5 times the rms background. The minimum level of this background, due to system noise at the antennas, was about 0.2Jy at each epoch. The model parameters include right ascension and declination offset (x, y) relative to a reference position; the total flux density, S; and the angular diameter {theta}_H_, of the best-fitting Gaussian distribution of intensity. The fitted parameters are in table1.
