The Extragalactic Reference Frame

AbstractA cooperative program has been established to produce a reference frame of at least 400 suitable extragalactic sources. This is an extension of collaborative efforts (Johnston et al., Russell et al., Ma et al., and Reynolds et al.) reported at this meeting. In Phase One, a catalog of radio source positions will be constructed using original VLBI observations already obtained by NASA, NGS, NRL, JPL and USNO. Observations will be re-reduced in a consistent system to avoid some of the more serious problems associated with the formation of compilation catalogs. In Phase Two, the USNO will maintain the system, including the monitoring of source structure and/or variation. During both phases cooperation among the various agencies will continue. A list of sources will be made available to optical observers so that the frame will have benchmarks in both the optical and radio regimes.