Realization of an inertial reference frame from Mark III VLBI

Abstract

Over 350,000 dual frequency Mark III VLBI observations from several geodetic and astrometric observing programs have been used to realize an inertial reference frame through the positions of 325 compact extragalactic radio sources uniformly distributed over the sky with standard errors typically under 1 milliarcsecond (mas). Internal and external tests indicate that the reference frame defined by the relative positions of these radio sources should be accurate and stable at the 1-2 mas level. Because the conventional precession and nutation models are adjusted in the estimation of the source positions, the positions and relative angles are not degraded over the interval of observations or at epochs away from the reference epoch.