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The purpose of this IAU Division A Commission is to facilitate advances in astronomy, and other fields in science and engineering, by developing, implementing, and communicating fundamental IAU-endorsed standards for fundamental astronomy. Such standards include, but are not limited to:

• celestial & terrestrial reference systems/frames and the transformations among them;
• time scales;
• precession-nutation models;
• Earth rotation and polar motion, including physical models (e.g., Earth's gravity field, lunar gravity field, Earth interior model, solid Earth-tide modelling);
• star catalogues;
• ephemerides of Solar System bodies;
• coordinate systems of Solar System bodies;
• special and general relativistic models for time and space.

This involves:

1. producing robust standards, and ensuring that new standards are readily understood by both the astronomical and broader scientific communities; i.e., are relevant and "fit for purpose";
2. ensuring that the associated nomenclature is well defined and understood; encouraging future research, particularly groups with the appropriate expertise, to improve their models and help them to develop relevant standards;
3. implementing good practices in setting and using IAU standards, including identifying requirements for new standards; providing a link between the users of fundamental standards and developers to (1) inform users of current standards and the status of those under development, and (2) to accept input from the broader user community in order to ensure that standards are relevant for practical needs; and
4. encouraging interest among young astronomers in developing the field of astronomical standards and services for the scientific community.

FS will serve as the primary point of contact between Division A and the user community regarding standards for fundamental astronomy.

Join FS & help make standards easy for everyone

Send comments, questions, suggestions to: @ President of C.A3.