News
Invited Talk: Thursday 30 May 2019 - Dr David Mayer
30 May 2019 16:30 - 17:30
Title: VLBI Celestial Reference Frames and Assessment with Gaia
Author: Dr David Mayer
Austrian Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying (BEV)
Abstract:
For decades, the accuracy of the celestial reference frame derived from Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations was out of reach for techniques operating in the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum. This has changed with the Gaia satellite mission, which was launched in 2013 with the aim of mapping a billion stars with an unprecedented accuracy. The influence of different modeling and analysis strategies on the celestial reference frame estimated from nearly forty years of VLBI observations in X/S-band will be investigated. Systematic changes in the VLBI reference frame are assessed with the help of the Gaia reference frame (data release 2).
More about the author:
David Mayer studied Advanced Geodesy and Geophysics and obtained his Master’s degree from the Technische Universität Wien (TU Wien) in 2015. In the course of his Master’s programme he spent a year at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO). Continuing his studies at the TU Wien, he completed his Ph.D. with the title “VLBI Celestial Reference Frames and Assessment with Gaia” in 2019. During his Ph.D., he closely cooperated with the ICRF3 working group, creating the next generation of the international celestial reference frame.
Since 2019, David has been employed by the Austrian Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying (BEV), where he supervises a data and analysis center of the EUREF (Regional Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe) Permanent GNSS (Global Navigation SatelliteSystem) Network.