Radio observations in both the S-band (2.3 GHz) and X-band (8.4 GHz) were recorded simultaneously to allow correction for ionospheric effects. The observations resulted in about 6.5 million group-delay measurements among pairs of telescopes. The group delays were processed with software that takes into account atmospheric and geophysical processes. The positions of the reference sources were treated as unknowns to be solved for by minimizing the mean squared error across group-delay measurements. The solution was constrained to be consistent with the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF2008) and earth orientation parameters (EOP) systems. ICRF3 ICRF3 is the third major revision of the ICRF, and was adopted by the IAU in August 2018, to become effective 1 January 2019. The modeling incorporates the effect of the galactocentric acceleration of the solar system, a new feature over and above ICRF2. ICRF3 also includes measurements at three frequency bands, providing three independent, and slightly different, realizations of the ICRS: dual frequency measurements at 8.4 GHz (X band) and 2.3 GHz (S band) for 4536 sources; measurements of 824 sources at 24 GHz (K band), and dual frequency measurements at 32 GHz (Ka band) and 8.4 GHz (X band) for 678 sources. Of these, 303 sources, uniformly distributed on the sky, are identified as "defining sources" which fix the axes of the frame. ICRF3 also increases the number of defining sources in the southern sky. Optical wavelengths Hipparcos Celestial Reference Frame (HCRF) In 1991 the International Astronomical Union recommended "that observing programmes be undertaken or continued in order to ... determine the relationship between catalogues of extragalactic source positions and ... the [stars of the] FK5 and Hipparcos catalogues." Using a variety of linking techniques, the coordinate axes defined by the Hipparcos catalogue were aligned with the extragalactic radio frame. In August 1997, the International Astronomical Union recognized in Resolution B2 of its XXIIIrd General Assembly "That the Hipparcos Catalogue was finalized in 1996 and that its coordinate frame is aligned to that of the frame of the extragalactic sources [ICRF1] with one sigma uncertainties of ±0.6 milliarcseconds (mas)" and resolved "that the Hipparcos Catalogue shall be the primary realization of the ICRS at optical wavelengths." Second Gaia celestial reference frame (Gaia–CRF2) The second Gaia celestial reference frame (Gaia–CRF2), based on 22 months of observations of over half a million extragalactic sources by the Gaia spacecraft, appeared in 2018 and has been described as "the