The HIPPARCOS Catalogue
Grewing, M.; Arenou, F.; Lindegren, L.; Mignard, F.; Bastian, U.; van Leeuwen, F.; Turon, C.; Le Poole, R. S.; Perryman, M. A. C.; Grenon, M.; Donati, F.; Hoeg, E.; Petersen, C. S.; Froeschlé, M.; Murray, C. A.; Kovalevsky, J.; Bernacca, P. L.; Schrijver, H.; van der Marel, H.; Crézé, M.
Abstract
The principal observational characteristics of the Hipparcos Catalogue, and a summary of its main astrometric and photometric properties, are presented. Median astrometric standard errors (in position, parallax, and annual proper motion) are in the range 0.7-0.9 milliarcsec (mas) for stars brighter than 9 mag at the catalogue epoch (J1991.25). The catalogue is a materialisation of the ICRS reference system, coinciding with its principal axes at the level of +/-0.6mas, and with proper motions consistent with an inertial system at the level of +/-0.25mas/yr. The 118218 constituent stars provide a mean sky density of ~3 stars/deg^2^. The catalogue is available in printed and machine-readable forms.