Gaia Data Release 2 The celestial reference frame (Gaia-CRF2)
journal contribution
posted on 2019-09-24, 16:11 authored by F Mignard, SA Klioner, L Lindegren, J Hernandez, U Bastian, A Bombrun, D Hobbs, U Lammers, D Michalik, M Ramos-Lerate, M Biermann, J Fernandez-Hernandez, R Geyer, T Hilger, HI Siddiqui, H Steidelmueller, C Babusiaux, C Barache, S Lambert, AH Andrei, G Bourda, P Charlot, AGA Brown, A Vallenari, T Prusti, JHJ de Bruijne, CAL Bailer-Jones, DW Evans, L Eyer, F Jansen, C Jordi, X Luri, C Panem, D Pourbaix, S Randich, P Sartoretti, C Soubiran, F van Leeuwen, NA Walton, F Arenou, M Cropper, R Drimmel, D Katz, MG Lattanzi, J Bakker, C Cacciari, J Castaneda, L Chaoul, N Cheek, F De Angeli, C Fabricius, R Guerra, B Holl, E Masana, R Messineo, N Mowlavi, K Nienartowicz, P Panuzzo, J Portell, M Riello, GM Seabroke, P Tanga, F Thevenin, G Gracia-Abril, G Comoretto, M Garcia-Reinaldos, D Teyssier, M Altmann, R Andrae, M Audard, I Bellas-Velidis, K Benson, J Berthier, R Blomme, P Burgess, G Busso, B Carry, A Cellino, G Clementini, M Clotet, O Creevey, M Davidson, J De Ridder, L Delchambre, A Dell'Oro, C Ducourant, M Fouesneau, Y Fremat, L Galluccio, M Garcia-Torres, J Gonzalez-Nunez, JJ Gonzalez-Vidal, E Gosset, LP Guy, J-L Halbwachs, NC Hambly, DL Harrison, D Hestroffer, ST Hodgkin, A Hutton, G Jasniewicz, A Jean-Antoine-Piccolo, S Jordan, AJ Korn, A Krone-Martins, AC Lanzafame, T Lebzelter, W Loeffler, M Manteiga, PM Marrese, JM Martin-Fleitas, A Moitinho, A Mora, K Muinonen, J Osinde, E Pancino, T Pauwels, J-M Petit, A Recio-Blanco, PJ Richards, L Rimoldini, AC Robin, LM Sarro, C Siopis, M Smith, A Sozzetti, M Sueveges, J Torra, W van Reeven, U Abbas, A Abreu Aramburu, S Accart, C Aerts, G Altavilla, MA Alvarez, R Alvarez, J Alves, RI Anderson, E Anglada Varela, E Antiche, T Antoja, B Arcay, TL Astraatmadja, N Bach, SG Baker, L Balaguer-Nunez, P Balm, C Barata, D Barbato, F Barblan, PS Barklem, D Barrado, M Barros, MA Barstow, S Bartholome Munoz, J-L Bassilana, U Becciani, M Bellazzini, A Berihuete, S Bertone, L Bianchi, O Bienayme, S Blanco-Cuaresma, T Boch, C Boeche, R Borrachero, D Bossini, S Bouquillon, A Bragaglia, L Bramante, MA Breddels, A Bressan, N Brouillet, T Bruesemeister, E Brugaletta, B Bucciarelli, A Burlacu, D Busonero, AG Butkevich, R Buzzi, E Caffau, R Cancelliere, G Cannizzaro, T Cantat-Gaudin, R Carballo, T Carlucci, JM Carrasco, L Casamiquela, M Castellani, A Castro-Ginard, L Chemin, A Chiavassa, G Cocozza, G Costigan, S Cowell, F Crifo, M Crosta, C Crowley, J Cuypers, C Dafonte, Y Damerdji, A Dapergolas, P David, M David, P de Laverny, F De Luise, R De March, R de Souza, A de Torres, J Debosscher, E del Pozo, M Delbo, A Delgado, HE Delgado, S Diakite, C Diener, E Distefano, C Dolding, P Drazinos, J Duran, B Edvardsson, H Enke, K Eriksson, P Esquej, GE Bontemps, C Fabre, M Fabrizio, S Faigler, AJ Falcao, M Farras Casas, L Federici, G Fedorets, P Fernique, F Figueras, F Filippi, K Findeisen, A Fonti, E Fraile, M Fraser, B Frezouls, M Gai, S Galleti, D Garabato, F Garcia-Sedano, A Garofalo, N Garralda, A Gavel, P Gavras, J Gerssen, P Giacobbe, G Gilmore, S Girona, G Giuffrida, F Glass, M Gomes, M Granvik, A Gueguen, A Guerrier, J Guiraud, R Gutierrez-Sanchez, R Haigron, D Hatzidimitriou, M Hauser, M Haywood, U Heiter, A Helmi, J Heu, W Hofmann, G Holland, HE Huckle, A Hypki, V Icardi, K Janssen, GJ de Fombelle, PG Jonker, AL Juhasz, F Julbe, A Karampelas, A Kewley, J Klar, A Kochoska, R Kohley, K Kolenberg, M Kontizas, E Kontizas, SE Koposov, G Kordopatis, Z Kostrzewa-Rutkowska, P Koubsky, AF Lanza, Y Lasne, J-B Lavigne, Y Le Fustec, C Le Poncin-Lafitte, Y Lebreton, S Leccia, N Leclerc, I Lecoeur-Taibi, H Lenhardt, F Leroux, S Liao, E Licata, HEP Lindstrom, TA Lister, E Livanou, A Lobel, M Lopez, S Managau, RG Mann, G Mantelet, O Marchal, JM Marchant, M Marconi, S Marinoni, G Marschalko, DJ Marshall, M Martino, G Marton, N Mary, D Massari, G Matijevic, T Mazeh, PJ McMillan, S Messina, NR Millar, D Molina, R Molinaro, L Molnar, P Montegriffo, R Mor, R Morbidelli, T Morel, D Morris, AF Mulone, T Muraveva, I Musella, G Nelemans, L Nicastro, L Noval, W O'Mullane, C Ordenovic, D Ordonez-Blanco, P Osborne, C Pagani, I Pagano, F Pailler, H Palacin, L Palaversa, A Panahi, M Pawlak, AM Piersimoni, F-X Pineau, E Plachy, G Plum, E Poggio, E Poujoulet, A Prsa, L Pulone, E Racero, S Ragaini, N Rambaux, S Regibo, C Reyle, F Riclet, V Ripepi, A Riva, A Rivard, G Rixon, T Roegiers, M Roelens, M Romero-Gomez, N Rowell, F Royer, L Ruiz-Dern, G Sadowski, TS Selles, J Sahlmann, J Salgado, E Salguero, N Sanna, T Santana-Ros, M Sarasso, H Savietto, M Schultheis, E Sciacca, M Segol, JC Segovia, D Segransan, I-C Shih, L Siltala, AF Silva, RL Smart, KW Smith, E Solano, F Solitro, R Sordo, S Soria Nieto, J Souchay, A Spagna, F Spoto, U Stampa, IA Steele, CA Stephenson, H Stoev, FF Suess, J Surdej, L Szabados, E Szegedi-Elek, D Tapiador, F Taris, G Tauran, MB Taylor, R Teixeira, D Terrett, P Teyssandier, W Thuillot, A Titarenko, F Torra Clotet, C Turon, A Ulla, E Utrilla, S Uzzi, M Vaillant, G Valentini, V Valette, A van Elteren, E Van Hemelryck, M van Leeuwen, M Vaschetto, A Vecchiato, J Veljanoski, Y Viala, D Vicente, S Vogt, C von Essen, H Voss, V Votruba, S Voutsinas, G Walmsley, M Weiler, O Wertz, T Wevers, L Wyrzykowski, A Yoldas, M Zerjal, H Ziaeepour, J Zorec, S Zschocke, S Zucker, C Zurbach, T ZwitterContext. The second release of Gaia data (Gaia DR2) contains the astrometric parameters for more than half a million quasars. This set defines a kinematically non-rotating reference frame in the optical domain. A subset of these quasars have accurate VLBI positions that allow the axes of the reference frame to be aligned with the International Celestial Reference System (ICRF) radio frame.
Aims. We describe the astrometric and photometric properties of the quasars that were selected to represent the celestial reference frame of Gaia DR2 (Gaia-CRF2), and to compare the optical and radio positions for sources with accurate VLBI positions.
Methods. Descriptive statistics are used to characterise the overall properties of the quasar sample. Residual rotation and orientation errors and large-scale systematics are quantified by means of expansions in vector spherical harmonics. Positional differences are calculated relative to a prototype version of the forthcoming ICRF3.
Results. Gaia-CRF2 consists of the positions of a sample of 556 869 sources in Gaia DR2, obtained from a positional cross-match with the ICRF3-prototype and AllWISE AGN catalogues. The sample constitutes a clean, dense, and homogeneous set of extragalactic point sources in the magnitude range G ≃ 16 to 21 mag with accurately known optical positions. The median positional uncertainty is 0.12 mas for G < 18 mag and 0.5 mas at G = mag. Large-scale systematics are estimated to be in the range 20 to 30 μas. The accuracy claims are supported by the parallaxes and proper motions of the quasars in Gaia DR2. The optical positions for a subset of 2820 sources in common with the ICRF3-prototype show very good overall agreement with the radio positions, but several tens of sources have significantly discrepant positions.
Conclusions. Based on less than 40% of the data expected from the nominal Gaia mission, Gaia-CRF2 is the first realisation of a non-rotating global optical reference frame that meets the ICRS prescriptions, meaning that it is built only on extragalactic sources. Its accuracy matches the current radio frame of the ICRF, but the density of sources in all parts of the sky is much higher, except along the Galactic equator.
Funding
This work has made use of data from the ESA space mission Gaia, processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC). We are grateful to the developers of TOPCAT (Taylor 2005) for their software. Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. The Gaia mission website is http://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia. The authors are members of the Gaia DPAC. This work has been supported by the European Space Agency in the framework of the Gaia project; the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES); the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Programme National GRAM of CNRS/INSU with INP and IN2P3 co-funded by CNES; the German Aerospace Agency DLR under grants 50QG0501, 50QG1401 50QG0601, 50QG0901, and 50QG1402; and the Swedish National Space Board. We gratefully acknowledge the IAU Working Group on ICRF3 for their cooperation during the preparation of this work and for their willingness to let us use an unpublished working version of the ICRF3 (solution from the GSFC).
History
Citation
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2018, 616, A14Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Physics and AstronomyVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
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Astronomy and AstrophysicsPublisher
EDP Sciences for European Southern Observatory (ESO)issn
1432-0746Acceptance date
2018-04-16Copyright date
2018Available date
2019-09-24Publisher DOI
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https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2018/08/aa32916-18/aa32916-18.htmlLanguage
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