The International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) realizes an ideal reference system, the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS), by precise equatorial coordinates of extragalactic radio sources observed in Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) programmes.
| Content | This dataset provides the equatorial coordinates of extragalactic radio sources observed at J2000.0 using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). Number of objects: 608 | |
| Accuracy | The uncertainties in the coordinates are provided for each object and are given in the following ranges: | |
| Right Ascension [s] | 0.000017 - 0.092072 | |
| Declination ["] | 0.00026 - 0.9467 | |
| Updates | Updates to the ICRF are released at irregular intervals, typically every few years. ICRF-Ext.1 ICRF-Ext.2 ICRF2 ICRF3 | |
| Public access | IERS ICRS Product Centre: https://hpiers.obspm.fr/icrs-pc/icrf/index.php IERS Data Center: https://datacenter.iers.org/products/reference-systems/celestial/icrf1/ | |
| Format | For a detailed description of the format, refer to the contents of the data file. | |
| Documentation | IERS Technical Note No. 23 IERS Conventions 2003, IERS Technical Note 32: 2. Conventional Celestial Reference System and Frame (PDF, 160KB, Not barrier-free file.) (not accessible) [PDF, 160 KB] Ma, C., Arias, E. F., Eubanks, T. M., Fey, A. L., Gontier, A.‑M., Jacobs, C. S., Sovers, O. J., Archinal, B. A., & Charlot, P. (1998). The International Celestial Reference Frame as Realized by VLBI.The Astronomical Journal, 116(1), 516-546. https://doi.org/10.1086/300408 | |
| Product center | IERS ICRS Centre | |
