We present the second realization of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF2) at radio wavelengths using nearly 30 years of Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations.ICRF2 contains precise positions of 3414 compact radio astronomical objects and has a positional noise floor of ∼40 μas and a directional stability of the frame axes of ∼10 μas.A set of 295 new "defining" sources was selected on the basis of positional stability and the lack of extensive intrinsic source structure.The positional stability of these 295 defining sources and their more uniform sky distribution eliminates the two greatest weaknesses of the first realization of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF1).Alignment of ICRF2 with the International Celestial Reference System was made using 138 positionally stable sources common to both ICRF2 and ICRF1.The resulting ICRF2 was adopted by the International Astronomical Union as the new fundamental celestial reference frame, replacing ICRF1 as of 2010 January 1.

Aims. The IVS Working Group on Galactic Aberration (WG8) was established to investigate issues related to incorporating the effect of Galactic aberration in IVS analysis. The circular motion of the solar system barycenter around the Galactic center causes a change in aberration, which in the case of geodetic VLBI observing is over time scales of several decades. One of the specific goals was to recommend a Galactic aberration model to be applied by the IAU ICRF3 working group in the generation of ICRF3 as well as in other IVS analysis. Studies made by working group members have shown that the three-dimensional acceleration vector of the solar system barycenter can be estimated from VLBI delay observations. Methods. Among the working group members, three methods were used to estimate the acceleration vector. One is to directly estimate the acceleration vector as a global parameter. The second is to estimate the acceleration vector from source proper motions determined from estimated source position time series. A third method estimated a global reference frame scale parameter for each source and derived the acceleration vector from these estimates. The acceleration vector estimate consists of a galactocentric component along with the non-galactocentric components. Results. The geodetic reference frame VLBI estimates of the galactocentric aberration constant from the different working group members are in the range 5.1–6.4 μas yr−1. These estimates are relatively close to independent estimates of 4.8–5.4 μas yr−1 that can be derived from astrometric measurements of proper motions and parallaxes of masers in the Milky Way galaxy. Based on the most recent geodetic VLBI solutions, we find an upper bound of 0.8 μas yr−1 for the non-galactocentric component of the secular aberration. Conclusions. The working group made a recommendation only for the galactocentric component of the observed acceleration vector. For the recommended galactocentric aberration constant, the working group chose a geodetic value to be consistent with geodetic VLBI applications. The recommended value 5.8 μas yr−1 was estimated directly in a global solution that used the ICRF3 solution data set: 1979–May 2018.

The US Naval Observatory makes daily UT1 Intensive observations on the Mauna Kea–Pie Town (MkPt) baseline of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) using the standard S/X bands in a bandwidth synthesis mode. These observations are increasingly negatively impacted by RFI in the S-band. The frequency range of the S-band receiver is no more than 256 MHz wide, restricting the ability to place the 32 MHz wide channels to avoid the RFI. The VLBA C-band receiver is more sensitive and has a wide frequency range (3.9–7.9 GHz) which allows for more flexibility in the placement of channels. To see if the difficulties encountered in the S-band can be overcome by using the C-band, we have undertaken two experiments using the C-band receiver on the Hancock–Owens Valley baseline of the VLBA. The first is a standard group delay observing setup accomplished by placing channels at the low and high ends of the C-band frequency range as analogs of the Sand X-bands. A major question here is whether the smaller frequency separation is sufficient for ionosphere calibration. The second is an attempt at broadband group delay measurement across the width of the C-band. Here we present the design of these sessions and preliminary results.

Six Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) calibrator survey campaigns were run between 1994 and 2007 (VCS1, Beasley et al. 2002, cat. J/ApJS/141/13; VCS2, Fomalont et al. 2003, cat. J/AJ/126/2562; VCS3, Petrov et al. 2005, cat. J/AJ/129/1163; VCS4, Petrov et al. 2006, cat. J/AJ/131/1872; VCS5, Kovalev et al. 2007, cat. J/AJ/133/1236; VCS6, Petrov et al. 2008, cat. J/AJ/136/580) We report on the results of a second epoch VLBA Calibrator Survey campaign (VCS-II) in which 2400 VCS sources were re-observed in the X and S bands. The VLBA S/X (S band~2.3GHz and X band~8.6GHz) dual frequency system was used. We used the VLBA RDBE/Mark5C system, which has 16 32MHz channels and records 2 Gbits/s using 2 bit sampling. Due to S-band filters below 2200MHz and above 2400MHz at most of the VLBA antennas, and a broad area of RFI from SiriusXM satellites (2320-2345MHz), only four channels could be deployed in the S band (2220.0, 2252.0, 2284.0, and 2348.0MHz). The other 12 channels were deployed in the X band (8460.0, 8492.0, 8524.0, 8556.0, 8620.0, 8652.0, 8716.0, 8748.0, 8812.0, 8844.0, 8876.0, and 8908.0MHz). We set a target of 300 sources per session, or 2400 total sources for the 8 VLBA sessions. We selected all sources from the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) S/X astrometric/geodetic catalog (available at http://gemini.gsfc.nasa.gov/solutions/ or by following the links at http://lupus.gsfc.nasa.gov/) between -50° and +90° decl. that had been observed in only 1 or 2 sessions as of mid 2013. This amounted to ~2060 sources. To fill out the list, we added ~340 additional sources that had been observed but not detected in the original VCS1-6 analysis. The eight schedules were run between 2014 January and 2015 March (VCS-II-A/BG219A on 2014 01/04 10:04-01/05 10:02; VCS-II-B/BG219B1 on 2014 05/31 17:12-06/01 17:05; VCS-II-D/BG219D on 2014 06/09 09:13-06/10 09:10; VCS-II-C/BG219C on 2014 08/05 13:03-08/06 13:00; VCS-II-E/BG219E on 2014 08/09 00:00-08/09 23:55; VCS-II-F/BG219F on 2014 12/20 01:18-12/21 01:14; VCS-II-H/BG219H on 2015 01/23 23:00-01/24 22:55; VCS-II-I/BG219I on 2015 03/17 07:57-03/18 07:57). Positions and other information for the 2062 re-observed and the 324 new sources are given in Tables 2 and 3. (2 data files).

We present an all-sky sample of ≈1.4 million active galactic nuclei (AGNs) meeting a two-color infrared photometric selection criteria for AGNs as applied to sources from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer final catalog release (AllWISE). We assess the spatial distribution and optical properties of our sample and find that the results are consistent with expectations for AGNs. These sources have a mean density of ≈38 AGNs per square degree on the sky, and their apparent magnitude distribution peaks at g ≈ 20, extending to objects as faint as g ≈ 26. We test the AGN selection criteria against a large sample of optically identified stars and determine the "leakage" (that is, the probability that a star detected in an optical survey will be misidentified as a quasi-stellar object (QSO) in our sample) rate to be ≤4.0 × 10−5. We conclude that our sample contains almost no optically identified stars (≤0.041%), making this sample highly promising for future celestial reference frame work as it significantly increases the number of all-sky, compact extragalactic objects. We further compare our sample to catalogs of known AGNs/QSOs and find a completeness value of ≳84% (that is, the probability of correctly identifying a known AGN/QSO is at least 84%) for AGNs brighter than a limiting magnitude of R ≲ 19. Our sample includes approximately 1.1 million previously uncataloged AGNs.

The goal of this presentation is to report the latest progress in creation of the next generation of VLBI-based International Celestial Reference Frame, ICRF3. Two main directions of ICRF3 development are improvement of the S/X-band frame and extension of the ICRF to higher frequencies. Another important task of this work is the preparation for comparison of ICRF3 with the new generation optical frame GCRF expected by the end of the decade as a result of the Gaia mission.

We propose a 3rd generation radio-based International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF-3) to improve upon the highly successful ICRF-2. Our goals are to improve the precision, spatial and frequency coverages relative to the ICRF-2 by 2018. This date is driven by the desire to create radio frames early enough to test the Gaia optical frame during its construction. Several specific actions are underway. A collaboration has been started to improve S/X-band precision of the 2000+ VLBA Calibrator Survey sources which are typically 5 times less precise than the rest of the ICRF-2. S/X-band southern precision improvements are planned from observations with southern antennas such as the AuScope and HartRAO, S. Africa. We seek to improve radio frequency coverage with X/Ka and K- band work. An X/Ka frame of 631 sources now has full sky coverage from the addition of a 2nd southern station in Argentina which should strengthen the southern hemisphere in general. A K-band collaboration has formed with similar coverage and southern precision goals. On the analysis front, special attention will be given to combination techniques both of VLBI catalogs and of multiple data types (e.g. VLBI+GPS). Finally, work is underway to identify and pinpoint sources bright enough in both radio and optical to allow for a robust frame tie between VLBI and Gaia optical frames.

ICRF-3 seeks to improve upon the highly successful ICRF-2. Our goals are to improve the precision, spatial and frequency coverage relative to the ICRF-2 by 2018. This date is driven by the desire to create radio frames that are ready for comparison with the Gaia optical frame. Several specific actions are underway. A collaboration has started to improve at S/X-band precision of the VLBA Calibrator Survey's ~2200 sources which are typically 5 times less precise than the rest of the ICRF-2. S/X-band southern precision improvements are underway with observations using southern antennas such as the AuScope and HartRAO, S. Africa. We also seek to improve radio frequency coverage with X/Ka and K-band work. An X/Ka frame of 654 sources now has full sky coverage from the addition of a 2nd southern station in Argentina which should strengthen the southern hemisphere in general. A K-band collaboration has formed with similar coverage and southern precision goals. On the analysis front, special attention is being given to combination techniques both of VLBI frames and of multiple data types. Consistency of the CRF with the TRF and EOP is another area of concern. Comparison of celestial frame solutions from various groups is underway in order to identify and correct systematic errors. Finally, work is underway to identify and pinpoint sources bright enough in both radio and optical to allow for a robust frame tie between VLBI and Gaia optical frames.

We propose a 3rd generation radio-based International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3) to improve upon the highly successful ICRF-2. Our goals are to improve the precision as well as the spatial and frequency coverages relative to the ICRF-2 by 2018. This date is driven by the desire to create radio frames early enough to test the Gaia optical frame during its construction. Several specific actions are underway. A collaboration has been started to improve S/X-band precision of the ∼2200 VLBA Calibrator Survey sources which are typically 5 times less precise than the rest of the ICRF-2. S/X-band southern precision improvements are planned from observations with southern antennas such as the AuScope and HartRAO, S. Africa. We seek to improve radio frequency coverage with X/Ka and K-band work. An X/Ka frame of 631 sources now has full sky coverage from the addition of a 2nd southern station in Argentina which should strengthen the southern hemisphere in general. A K-band collaboration has formed with similar coverage and southern hemisphere precision goals. On the analysis front, special attention will be given to combination techniques both of VLBI catalogs and of multiple data types (e.g. VLBI+GPS). Finally, work is underway to identify and pinpoint sources bright enough in both radio and optical to allow for a robust frame tie between VLBI and Gaia optical frames.

(Abridged) We analyze blazar jet apparent speeds and accelerations from the RDV series of astrometric and geodetic VLBI experiments. From these experiments, we have produced and analyzed 2753 global VLBI images of 68 sources at 8 GHz with a median beam size of 0.9 milliarcseconds (mas), and a median of 43 epochs per source. From this sample, we analyze the motions of 225 jet components in 66 sources. The distribution of the fastest measured apparent speed in each source has a median of 8.3c and a maximum of 44c. Sources in the 2FGL Fermi LAT catalog display higher apparent speeds than those that have not been detected. On average, components farther from the core in a given source have significantly higher apparent speeds than components closer to the core. We measure accelerations of components in orthogonal directions parallel and perpendicular to their average velocity vector. Parallel accelerations have significantly larger magnitudes than perpendicular accelerations, implying observed accelerations are predominantly due to changes in the Lorentz factor (bulk or pattern) rather than projection effects from jet bending. Positive parallel accelerations are significantly more common than negative ones, so the Lorentz factor (bulk or pattern)tends to increase on the scales observed here. Observed parallel accelerations correspond to modest source frame increases in the bulk or pattern Lorentz factor.