The Catalogue of Fundamental Stars is a series of six
astrometric
Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way.
His ...
catalogues of high precision positional data for a small selection of
stars to define a celestial
reference frame
In physics and astronomy, a frame of reference (or reference frame) is an abstract coordinate system whose origin, orientation, and scale are specified by a set of reference points― geometric points whose position is identified both mathe ...
, which is a standard coordinate system for measuring positions of stars.
Publication history
The six volumes in the fundamental catalogue series are as follows:
The ''Fundamental-Catalog'' (FC) was compiled by
Auwers and published in two volumes. The first volume, published in 1879, contains 539 stars. The second volume, published in 1883, contains 83 stars from the southern sky.
The ''Neuer Fundamentalkatalog'' (NFK) was compiled by J. Peters and contained 925 stars.
[
The ''Third Fundamental Catalogue'' (FK3) was compiled by Kopff and published in 1937, with a supplement in 1938.][
The ''Fourth Fundamental Catalogue'' (FK4) was published in 1963, and contained 1,535 stars in various equinoxes from 1950.0.
The ''Fourth Fundamental Catalogue's Supplement'' (FK4S) was an amendment to FK4 that contains a further 1,987 stars.][
The ''Fifth Fundamental Catalogue'' (FK5) was a 1988 update of FK4 with new positions for the 1,535 stars. It was superseded by the quasar-based ]International Celestial Reference Frame
The International Celestial Reference System (ICRS) is the current standard celestial reference system adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Its origin is at the barycenter of the Solar System, with axes that are intended to "sho ...
(ICRF).
The ''Fifth Fundamental Catalogue Extension'' (FK5), published in 1991, added 3,117 new stars.
The ''Sixth Fundamental Catalogue'' (FK6) is a 2000 update of FK5 correlated with the ICRF through the '' Hipparcos'' satellite. It comes in two parts: FK6(I) and FK6(III). FK6(I) contains 878 stars, and FK6(III) contains 3,272 stars. Both are updated and amended versions of FK5 using ''Hipparcos Catalogue
''Hipparcos'' was a scientific satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 1989 and operated until 1993. It was the first space experiment devoted to precision astrometry, the accurate measurement of the positions of celestial ...
'' data.
Examples
* Iota Arietis is located in FK5 as item 2132
* Alpha Arietis is FK5 item 74
* Kappa Aurigae is FK5 item 1168
See also
* '' Gaia'', a star catalogue mission launched in 2013 covering approximately 1billion astronomical objects
* International Celestial Reference System and Its Realizations, the current IAU
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...
approved reference frames in radio and optical wavelengths
References
External links
*
Fifth Fundamental Catalogue
' (1988)
*
'
Astronomical catalogues of stars
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