Status Of Photographic Catalogs: Available Material And Future Developments

Abstract

Starting with the Astrographic Catalogue as the first example of an all sky coordinated international astrometric project, a considerable number of large photographic catalog projects has been accomplished in the last decades on both hemispheres. The accuracy properties and possible improvements of some catalogs by remeasurement, application of modern reduction techniques and the use of improved reference star catalogs will be discussed.The optimal use of modern photographic technology and instrumentation for the construction of new global catalogs, capable of positional accuracies on the level of a few 0.01 arcsec, will be outlined with special view to an extension to fainter limiting magnitudes.