Positions of 46 radio stars: Observations of 1984–1985 and 1989–1991

The results of observations of 46 radio stars carried out with the Repsold meridian circle of the Kyyiv University Observatory in 1984–1985 and 1989–1991 are presented. The main goal of these observations is to improve the optical positions of radio stars for determination of a relationship between the optical and VLBI reference frames. The standard errors of averaged positions in two catalogues amount to 0.2 arcsec. These results were compared with those obtained with the Bordeaux meridian circle.     

New consideration of atmospheric refraction in laser ranging data

In this paper we reconsider the formulae of tropospheric refraction correction for the Satellite Laser Range technique. From the expansion of the complementary error function, a new continued fraction form of the mapping function at optical frequencies is derived. The correction terms related to the operation frequency of the laser beam are considered in both the zenith delay and the mapping function. The correction for low-elevation satellites is briefly reviewed. The theoretical accuracy of the new mapping function has been analysed via the ray tracing integrals under the standard atmospheric profile. With respect to the radiosonde data, the deviations of the new mapping function are investigated in an elevation range down to near 1°, which is comparable with the results of the Marini–Murray formulae .     

The problem of the sighting line stabilization for axial meridian circles

The paper deals with the method based on treating the axial meridian circle and a long-focus light mark in the prime vertical as a single virtual instrument that has properties of meridian circle. A horizontal axis, a sighting line, and a micrometer cross-wire of the instrument are created by optical means. The key function here is performed by the light mark that ensures a reference direction used for formation of instrumental principal planes and directions. Stability of instrumental azimuth, inclination, and collimation is expected to be about ±0.″01. Besides, an accuracy of observations is not affected by any temperature and weight deformations of telescope mechanics. Owing to the last circumstance, the design is cheap and the telescope aperture may be increased significantly, to about 1m. An estimate of accuracy of observations depends on the adopted model of image motion, and for sites with excellent seeing and bright stars is ±0.″03 to ±0.″05 (rms).     

大视场长露光观测中的大气折射影响

利用给出的严格的较差大气折射计算公式,以ＬＡＭＯＳＴ为例,计算了较差大气折射对大视场长露光天文观测的影响．并与其他作者的结果进行了比较．该方法给出的是完整的较差大气折射量,与望远镜和导星方式无关．此外,还讨论了大气色散的影响,并探讨了可能的解决方法     

较差相位参考技术：VLTI-PRIMA

简述了窄角天体测量中地面较差相位参考技术在射电波段以及近年来在红外波段的应用。给出了较差相位参考技术计算两颗星之间角距的基本公式;详细介绍了地面上红外波段实现较差相位参考技术VLTI-PRIMA的发展过程,和其结构、主要部件、科学能力,以及达到的目标和局限性。描述了2008年VLTI-PRIMA研制成功后进行的几次试验观测,并给出了与VLTI和NACO成像的比较结果。最后介绍了该工作的展望,如仪器硬件和软件的改进、VLTI第二代仪器GRAVITY的研制,以及根据PRIMA研制的经验,对我国研制仅有窄角天体测量功能的地基中等口径大视场光学望远镜提出几点建议。     

岁差常数改正及 FK5和Hipparcos自行系统

许多研究结果表明,FK5和Hipparcos自行系统的关系,与VLBI和LLR所测定的岁差常数改正值不相符合．利用建立在FK5系统上的PPM和ACRS自行数据的分析,通过多个子样本的考察,发现不论由PPM或ACRS自行资料,都无法给出一致的岁差改正值和分点运动改正值．从而表明,FK5自行内部的系统差是产生这种问题的主要因素．     

FK5星表和依巴谷星表的比较

由ＦＫ５星表和依巴谷星表在不同历元上的比较、检测和讨论了ＦＫ５星表的系统差．结果表明，ＦＫ５星表的自行系统差可能是影响ＦＫ５星表位置系统差的主要来源．在一些研究工作中，例如在依巴谷星表系统中研究地球自转的长期变化或以前的照相观测结果的重新归算，需要考虑依巴谷星表自行个别误差的影响     

Image Field Deformation of LAMOST due to Differential Atmospheric Refraction

A vectorial expression of the image field deformation of LAMOST due to the differential atmospheric refraction is presented. The calculated results are compared with those from previous analyses based on the traditional spherical trigonometric formulas. It is demonstrated that different tangential displacements of star images during the observation tracking given by various authors are simply due to different reference points adopted. It is pointed out that the observational celestial pole is the center of the apparent diurnal motion, that, by referring to the observational celestial pole, the effect of the differential refraction on the image field of LAMOST during the 1.5-hour tracking period is approximately equivalent to a constant rotation of -13.65\" for all declination belts. It is therefore unnecessary to design a particular tracking velocity for each observation, and this will be obviously advantageous to the observation implementation. If the maximum tracking error of the fibers is 0.2\", then the fibers are required to be able to re-position during observational tracking for sky regions south of declination 20°and north of declination 60°.     

On Astronomical Atmospheric Refraction

Through a comparison between the series expression and mapping function expression of the astronomical refraction, we believe that, as far as a specific atmospheric refraction model is concerned, the computational accuracy is not lower in the former than in the latter, and that the convergence is poorer in the theoretically derived series expression, because of the different approximations made. From an analysis of the method of generating function of the atmospheric refraction mapping function it is considered that this kind of method can not embody the characteristics of geophysics and atmospheric physics. It is pointed out from the comparison that the atmospheric refraction model which is constructed by adopting the specific atmospheric distribution of a certain place does not apply to all other places and cannot be used to evaluate the other atmospheric refraction models. For improving the correction accuracy the key lies in the adoption of an effective method by which the instantaneous refraction values at different positions are directly determined to construct a local, position-dependent model of atmospheric refraction observation.     

The XPM Catalogue: absolute proper motions of 280 million stars

We combined data from the Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) and USNO-A2.0 catalogues in order to derive the absolute proper motions of about 280 million stars distributed all over the sky excluding a small region near the Galactic Centre, in the magnitude range  12 < B < 19 mag  . The proper motions were derived from the 2MASS Point Sources and USNO-A2.0 catalogue positions with a mean epoch difference of about 45 years for the Northern hemisphere and about 17 years for the Southern one. The zero-point of the absolute proper motion frame (the 'absolute calibration') was specified with the use of about 1.45 million galaxies from 2MASS. Most of the systematic zonal errors inherent in the USNO-A2.0 catalogue were eliminated before the calculation of proper motions. The mean formal error of absolute calibration is less than 1 mas yr⁻¹. The XPM Catalogue will be available via CDS in Strasbourg during 2010. The generated catalogue contains the International Celestial Reference System positions of stars for the J2000 epoch, original absolute proper motions, as well as   B , R , J , H   and K magnitudes. A comparison of the proper motions obtained in this work with the data of other recent catalogues of quasars was fulfilled.     

PRIMA for the VLTI – Science

The four main scientific objectives of PRIMA – the Phase-Referenced Imaging and Micro-arc second Astrometry facility for the VLTI – will be described:– extra-solar system characterization with astrometry, to detect planets and evaluate their mass, and imaging of the dust accretion disk,– galactic center study with astrometry(dynamics of the bulge stars) and imaging at 10μm (piercing the gas and dust clouds surrounding the galactic center),– observations of AGNs and other extra-galactic objects, too faint to be observed without PRIMA, for which partial imaging is needed to constrain their structuremodels,– micro-gravitational lensing event resolution (imaging and astrometry of their photo-center) in the Galactic Bulge and Magellanic Clouds, helping to determine directly the lens mass and distance. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An Approach of Tropospheric Correction for VLBI Phase-Referencing using GPS Data

The dominant source of error in VLBI phase-referencing is the troposphere at observing frequencies above 5 GHz. We compare the tropospheric zenith delays derived from VLBI and GPS data at VLBA stations collocated with GPS antennas. The systematic biases and standard deviations both are at the level of sub-centimeter. Based on this agreement, we suggest a new method of tropospheric correction in phase-referencing using combined VLBI and GPS data.     

自适应光学技术应用于激光测月中大气波前倾斜量的探测与计算

针对云南天文台1.2米望远镜在激光测月中回波光子数太少的问题,将大气湍流效应考虑到激光测月中,研究了互相关和绝对差分两种跟踪算法的原理,并编写了算法程序,利用太阳数据验证了程序的正确性,给出了根据所采集的月面感兴趣区域的图像数据,用不同方法在不同条件下处理所得的大气波前整体倾斜信号,比较了算法的优劣。