Extension of the ICRF for selected areas down to the 16th magnitude – II

J. I B Camargo (1) , C. Ducourant (1) , R. Teixeira (1) , J.-F. Le Campion (1) , M. Rapaport (1) , P. Benevides-Soares (1)

1 LAB - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux [Pessac]

In this paper we provide a major upgrade of the work presented in Camargo et al. (2001), aiming at the extension of the ICRF at optical wavelengths in regions of special astronomical interest, using observations from the Bordeaux and Valinhos meridian circles. Along with the new fields, the main differences, when compared to the first release, are: a much larger sky coverage, the replacement of the AC2000 by its upgraded version AC2000.2 as one of the first epoch astrometrical sources, inclusion of Tycho-2 and 2MASS photometry when available, and the correction for a magnitude equation on the Valinhos right ascension system as well. The resulting catalogue contains 678 828 entries with positional external precisions, on both coordinates, ranging from 50-60 mas (V ≤ 13.5) to 70-140 mas (13.5 < V ≤ 16.0). For the proper motions, precisions range from 3 mas/year to about 15 mas/year, depending on magnitude and declination.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

J. I B Camargo, C. Ducourant, R. Teixeira, J.-F. Le Campion, M. Rapaport, et al.. Extension of the ICRF for selected areas down to the 16th magnitude – II. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2003, 409 (1), pp.361-368. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361:20031063⟩. ⟨insu-03324792⟩