The Q-band (43 GHz) Celestial Reference Frame observed in 2021
Authors/Creators
- 1. TU Wien
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2.
South African Radio Astronomy Observatory
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3.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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4.
United States Naval Observatory
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5.
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Description
This Q-band (43 GHz) Celestial Reference Frame has 428 sources and 67 thousand observations based on three dual polarization VLBA sessions from 2021 whose primary goal was to compare the astrometric structures of active galactic nuclei (AGN) at Q-band (43 GHz) to S, X, and K-bands (2.3, 8.4, 24 GHz) using nearly concurrent VLBA sessions. The solution presented here was made with the VieVS software on 2024 Feb 09. Median formal precisions are 203 microas in RA* and 353 microas in De. The Q-band frame is based solely on the all northern geometry of the VLBA. As a result, sky coverage is limited to declinations above -45 deg and precision tends to decrease as one moves south. We are exploring the potential to add Q-band VLBI observations using the Korean tri-band ( K, Q, W-band) system. In the far south, we are exploring the baseline from Mopra, Australia to the CART 40m, Argentina. The prospects for future improvements are bright with the aforementioned potential for adding new stations as well as plans for proposing for more Q-band time on the VLBA, and the planned VLBA upgrade from 4 to 8 Gbps data rates.
VLBA, Q-band, CRF
Notes (English)
We acknowledge use of the Very Long Baseline Array under the US Naval Observatory's time allocation. This work supports USNO's ongoing research into the celestial reference frame and geodesy.
The VLBA is operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004).
HK and FJ acknowledge the support by the Austrian Science Fund FWF – SOFT P 35920.
Copyright©2024. All Rights Reserved.
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Krasna_etal_IVSGM2024_QCRF.pdf
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Additional details
Funding
- FWF Austrian Science Fund
- SOFT P 35920
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- JPL contract no. 80NM0018D0004
References
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