Like Hipparcos, Gaia is designed to give absolute parallaxes, independent of any astrophysical reference system. And indeed, Gaia’s internal zero-point error for parallaxes is likely to be smaller than any individual parallax error. Nevertheless, due in part to mechanical issues of unknown origin, there are many astrophysical questions for which the parallax zero-point error σ(π0) will be the fundamentally limiting constraint. These include the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Galactic Center. We show that by using the photometric parallax estimates for RR Lyrae stars (RRL) within 8kpc, via the ultra-precise infrared period-luminosity relation, one can independently determine a hyper-precise value for π0. Despite their paucity relative to bright quasars, we show that RRL are competitive due to their order-of-magnitude improved parallax precision for each individual object relative to bright quasars. We show that this method is mathematically robust and well-approximated by analytic formulae over a wide range of relevant distances.

Augmenting the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) microlensing campaigns with intensive observations from a ground-based network of wide-field survey telescopes would have several major advantages. First, it would enable full two-dimensional (2-D) vector microlens parallax measurements for a substantial fraction of low-mass lenses as well as planetary and binary events that show caustic crossing features. For a significant fraction of the free-floating planet (FFP) events and all caustic-crossing planetary/binary events, these 2-D parallax measurements directly lead to complete solutions (mass, distance, transverse velocity) of the lens object (or lens system). For even more events, the complementary ground-based observations will yield 1-D parallax measurements. Together with the 1-D parallaxes from WFIRST alone, they can probe the entire mass range M & M⊕. For luminous lenses, such 1-D parallax measurements can be promoted to complete solutions (mass, distance, transverse velocity) by high-resolution imaging. This would provide crucial information not only about the hosts of planets and other lenses, but also enable a much more precise Galactic model. Other benefits of such a survey include improved understanding of binaries (particularly with low mass primaries), and sensitivity to distant ice-giant and gas-giant companions of WFIRST lenses that cannot be detected by WFIRST itself due to its restricted observing windows. Existing ground-based microlensing surveys can be employed if WFIRST is pointed at lower-extinction fields than is currently envisaged. This would come at some cost to the event rate. Therefore the benefits of improved characterization of lenses must be weighed against these costs.

We report results of the measurement of the trigonometric parallax of an H2O maser source in IRAS 22555+6213 with the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA). The annual parallax was determined to be 0.2780.019 mas, corresponding to a distance of 3.66+0:30 -0:26 kpc. Our results conrm that IRAS 22555+6213 is located in the Perseus arm. We computed the peculiar motion of IRAS 22555+6213 to be (Usrc; Vsrc;Wsrc) = (0 ± 1,-32 ± 1, 9 ± 1) km s􀀀1, where Usrc, Vsrc, and Wsrc are directed toward the Galactic center, in the direction of Galactic rotation and toward the Galactic north pole, respectively. IRAS 22555+6213, NGC7538 and Cepheus A lie along the same line of sight, and are within 2 on the sky. Their parallax distances, with which we derived their absolute position in the Milky Way, show that IRAS 22555+6213 and NGC7538 are associated with the Perseus arm, while Cepheus A is located in the Local arm. We compared the kinematic distances of IRAS 22555+6213 derived with at and non- at rota- tion curve with its parallax distance and found the kinematic distance derived from the non- at rotation assumption (—32 km s-1 lag) to be consistent with the parallax distance.

We made phase-referencing Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations of Galactic 22 GHz H2O maser sources with VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA). We measured the parallax dis- tances of G48.61+0.02, G48.99-0.30, G49.19-0.34, ON1, IRAS 20056+3350, IRAS 20143+3634, ON2N, and IRAS 20126+4104, which are located near the tangent point and the Solar circle. The angular ve- locity of the Galactic rotation at the LSR (i.e. the ratio of the Galactic constants) is derived using the measured parallax distances and proper motions of these sources. The derived value of Ω0 = 28:8  1:7 km s-1 kpc-1 is consistent with recent values obtained using VLBI astrometry but 10% larger than the International Astronomical Union (IAU) recommended value of 25.9 km s-1 kpc-1 = (220 km s-1) / (8.5 kpc).

WFIRST microlensing observations will return high-precision parallaxes, σ(π) . 0.3 μas, for the roughly 1 million stars with H < 14 in its 2.8 deg2 field toward the Galactic bulge. Combined with its 40,000 epochs of high precision photometry (∼ 0.7 mmag at Hvega = 14 and ∼ 0.1 mmag at H = 8), this will yield a wealth of asteroseismic data of giant stars, primarily in the Galactic bulge but including a substantial fraction of disk stars at all Galactocentric radii interior to the Sun. For brighter stars, the astrometric data will yield an external check on the radii derived from the two asteroseismic parameters, the large-frequency separation h
νnli and the frequency of maximum oscillation power νmax, while for the fainter ones, it will enable a mass measurement from the single measurable asteroseismic parameter νmax. Simulations based on Kepler data indicate that WFIRST will be capable of detecting oscillations in stars from slightly less luminous than the red clump to the tip of the red giant branch, yielding roughly 1 million detections.

I show that the WFIRST microlensing survey will enable detection and precision orbit determination of Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) down to Hvega = 28.2 over an effective area of ∼ 17 deg2. Typical fractional period errors will be ∼ 1.5% × 100.4(H−28.2) with similar errors in other parameters for roughly 5000 KBOs. Binary companions to detected KBOs can be detected to even fainter limits, Hvega = 29, corresponding to R ∼ 30.5 and effective diameters D ∼ 7 km. For KBOs H ∼ 23, binary companions can be found with separations down to 10 mas. This will provide an unprecedented probe of orbital resonance and KBO mass measurements. More than a thousand stellar occultations by KBOs can be combined to determine the mean size as a function of KBO magnitude down to H ∼ 25. Current ground-based microlensing surveys can make a significant start on finding and characterizing KBOs using existing and soon-to-be-acquired data.

The DE405 ephemeride is introduced as TRAO solar ephemeris system to support the apparent coordinates of planets after 2000. The time delay between planets and observer has to be regarded to get the apparent position of planet. Some fast algorithms about time delay are suggested to reduce the computing time. The CSI method is applied to run these algorithms on any O/S including both real-time and run-time machine.