Sub-group on the Densification of the Optical Frame
                       Newsletter 1
                     January 3, 2001

Dear Colleagues,

  I am contacting you as the chairman of the sub-group on the
densification of the optical reference frame.  This sub-group
falls under the ICRS Working Group, chaired by Francois Mignard.
You have recently indicated your willingness to participate
through a survey conducted by him.  

  One of my first duties is to be sure I have a correct e-mail
address for each member.  Please review the list below and let me
know of any corrections that are needed.  Additionally, please
reply to this letter informing me that you have received it.
If there has been a mistake and you do not wish to be a member,
please inform me of that as well

  I plan on running the group similarly to that of the last triennium.
My main responsibilities as chairman are to be a point of 
contact between various institutions involved in the optical frame
densification as well as to be a liaison between our sub-group and
the Working Group chairman.  I will keep all members informed by
newsletters and reports.  A website, designed to facilitate
information exchanges, can be found at
http://ad.usno.navy.mil/dens_wg/dens.html.  There are some pages that 
are in the midst of being updated.  However, please take a look at
this site and report any problems or incorrect
information to me.  I am also open to suggestions of additional
topics for the website.  If you do not have the capability to view it,
please let me know and I will try to get the information to you by
other means.

Currently, the membership list is:
Bill       van ALTENA    USA     vanalten@astro.yale.edu   
Beatrice   BUCCIARELLI   Italy   bucc@to.astro.it          
Nicole     CAPITAINE     France  nicole.capitaine@obspm.fr 
Tom        CORBIN        USA     tec@sicon.usno.navy.mil   
Dafydd Wyn EVANS         UK      dwe@ast.cam.ac.uk         
George     GONTCHAROV    Russia  gaoran@mail.wplus.net    
Chris      JACOBS        USA     csj@logos.jpl.nasa.gov    
Ken        JOHNSTON      USA     kjj@astro.usno.navy.mil   
Vitali     KISLYUK       Ukraine kislyuk@mao.kiev.ua       
Irina      KUMKOVA       Russia  kumkova@ipa.rssi.ru       
Brian      MASON         USA     bdm@draco.usno.navy.mil   
Francois   MIGNARD       France  mignard@obs-azur.fr       
Dave       MONET         USA     dgm@nofs.navy.mil         
Imants     PLATAIS       USA     imants@usno.navy.mil      
Ted        RAFFERTY      USA     tjr@sicon.usno.navy.mil   
Jean       SOUCHAY       France  jean.souchay@obspm.fr     
Sean       URBAN         USA     seu@pyxis.usno.navy.mil   
Christian  de VEGT       Germany cdevegt@hs.uni-hamburg.de 
Norbert    ZACHARIAS     USA     nz@pisces.usno.navy.mil   

  This is quite an exciting, dynamic time for astrometry.  Over the
next three years several ground-based projects -- such as 2MASS, 
UCAC, and observations using scanning transit circles -- will be coming to
completion.  Re-measurement and reduction of many older, large surveys
should also be complete.  Additionally, both the FAME and DIVA satellites
will be ready for launch.  I look forward to an interesting
next next three years.

                                 Sincerely,
                                 Sean Urban
                                 U.S. Naval Observatory
                                 January 3, 2001