SECOND EPOCH VLBA CALIBRATOR SURVEY OBSERVATIONS: VCS-II

ABSTRACT Six very successful Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) calibrator survey campaigns were run between 1994 and 2007 to build up a large list of compact radio sources with positions precise enough for use as very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) phase reference calibrators. We report on the re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astronomical journal 2016-06, Vol.151 (6), p.154
Main Authors: Gordon, David, Jacobs, Christopher, Beasley, Anthony, Peck, Alison, Gaume, Ralph, Charlot, Patrick, Fey, Alan, Ma, Chopo, Titov, Oleg, Boboltz, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accumulation
Arrays
astrometry
Astrophysics
Calibration
Flux
Fluxes
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysic
Lists
quasars: general
radio continuum: galaxies
Radio sources (astronomy)
reference systems
Sciences of the Universe
Spectra
surveys
techniques: interferometric
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Summary:ABSTRACT Six very successful Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) calibrator survey campaigns were run between 1994 and 2007 to build up a large list of compact radio sources with positions precise enough for use as very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) phase reference calibrators. 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 in order to improve the upcoming third realization of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3) as well as to improve their usefulness as VLBI phase reference calibrators. In this survey, some 2062 previously detected sources and 324 previously undetected sources were detected and revised positions are presented. Average position uncertainties for the re-observed sources were reduced from 1.14 and 1.98 mas to 0.24 and 0.41 mas in R.A. and decl., respectively, or by nearly a factor of 5. Minimum detected flux values were approximately 15 and 28 mJy in the X and S bands, respectively, and median total fluxes are approximately 230 and 280 mJy. The vast majority of these sources are flat-spectrum sources, with ∼82% having spectral indices greater than −0.5.
ISSN:0004-6256
1538-3881
DOI:10.3847/0004-6256/151/6/154