The Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogs

Data taking: November 1989 to March 1993.
Mean epoch: 1991.

Hipparcos Catalog
Number of sources118,000
Faintest Star12.5 mag
Positional accuracy (1 sigma)0.001"
Photometric accuracy (1 sigma)0.002 mag

Tycho Catalog
Number of sources1,000,000
Magnitude Limit11.5
Positional accuracy (1 sigma)0.025"
Photometric accuracy (1 sigma)0.06 mag
Proper Motion accuracy (1 sigma)tbs
Accuracies for mag < 9.5
Positional accuracy (1 sigma)0.01"
Photometric accuracy (1 sigma)0.02 mag

As a result of the large proper motion errors, the accuracy of the Tycho positions degrades linearly with time. If the average proper motion is 0.02"/year (number needs to be calculated more accurately), then this results in a sigma in the position of 0.02" times the number of years between the 2MASS observation and the Tycho mean epoch. This results in the following positional accuracies for either the Tycho or Hipparcos catalog stars:

YearPositional accuracy (")
(1 sigma)
19970.12
19980.14
19990.16
20000.18



http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/tchester/2mass/hipparcos.html
Comments to: Tom Chester
Last update: 31 May 1997