Sub-group on the Densification of the Optical Frame
                       Newsletter 1
                       June 2, 1998

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.

  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, is currently under development.  This website
can be found at http://aries.usno.navy.mil/ad/dens_wg/dens.html.
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:
  vanalten@astro.yale.edu        ALTENA van   Bill        US
  bucc@to.astro.it               BUCCIARELLI  Beatrice    Italy
  capitaine@obspm.fr             CAPITAINE    Nicole      France
  tec@sicon.usno.navy.mil        CORBIN       Tom         US
  kumkova@ipa.rssi.ru            KUMKOVA      Irina       Russia
  bdm@draco.usno.navy.mil        MASON        Brian       US
  dgm@nofs.navy.mil              MONET        Dave        US
  imants@astro.yale.edu          PLATAIS      Imants      US
  souchay@obspm.fr               SOUCHAY      Jean        France
  cdevegt@hs.uni-hamburg.de      de VEGT      Christian   Germany
  nz@ctioj8.ctio.noao.edu        ZACHARIAS    Norbert     US
  seu@pyxis.usno.navy.mil        URBAN        Sean        US
  shwang@center.shao.ac.cn       WANG         Shue        China
  
Some of you may be contacted to write brief summaries of projects
being conducted by you or your institution of which other members of
the group should be informed.

I look forward to a productive and educational two years.

                                 Sincerely,
                                 Sean Urban
                                 U.S. Naval Observatory
                                 June 2, 1998