Compilation of the NIRS using the Eichhorn Method

Abstract

The Eichhorn method of simultaneously estimating both target parameters and model parameters is applied to the compilation of a complete star catalogue. The input material of the Northern International Reference Stars (NIRS) is used and the resulting catalogue is compared to the NIRS catalogue compiled by Corbin (1977) using traditional techniques. By simultaneously using all available constraints on all available data, it is shown that the new estimates of the star parameters have smaller formal errors than estimates derived from the same material but using conventional procedures. Both versions of the NIRS are used to predict the star positions of the later observed Perth 70: A Catalogue of Positions of 24900 Stars and these predicted positions are compared to the actual observed positions. It is found that a simultaneous reduction results in a slight but significant improvement in the declination system of the NIRS.