Tycho Reference Catalogue: Pilot Project Results

Abstract

The Tycho Reference Catalogue (TRC) project is aimed at the derivation of highly accurate proper motions of about 1 000 000 stars observed within the Tycho experiment on board the ESA Hipparcos satellite. The unprecedented number of high-quality proper motions is due to the combination of the precise modern-epoch Tycho positions with the century-old Astrographic Catalogue data. Results of the pilot TRC project, presented here, show that final TRC could yield almost Hipparcos quality proper motions for practically all Tycho Catalogue stars