Properties of the Gaia reference Frame and Link with the ICRF

The ESA space astrometric satellite Gaia launched in December 2013 is considered as an important milestone in astronomy. The expected accuracy of astrometry is several micro-arcseconds which will greatly promote scientific studies of fundamental reference systems and the Earth’s rotation.

The first data release of Gaia (DR1) was published in September of 2016 provided us with very first observational data and with the opportunity to study the theories and application of the new Gaia reference frame.