THE ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL    VOLUME 112, NUMBER 6, PAGE 2862       DECEMBER 1996

                     THE MSX INFRARED ASTROMETRIC CATALOG

                     MICHAEL P. EGAN AND STEPHAN D. PRICE

           Phillips Laboratory/GPOB, 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB,
                           Massachusetts 01731-3010
              Electronic mail: egan@plh.af.mil, price@plh.af.mil


                                   ABSTRACT

    The MSX Infrared Astrometric Catalog has been contructed as a tool for
    improving the pointing accuracy of infrared observations. The catalog
    contains 177,860 astrometric stars, 61,242 which have been identified
    with their infrared counterparts from IRAS catalogs and the Catalog of
    Infrared Observations through position and color matching.  Infrared
    flux densities are predicted for 6 wavelength bands between 4 and 22
    um.  The catalog identifications are complete to within the spatial
    coverage of current surveys for those astrometric stars brightest in
    the infrared.  By predicting fluxes of astrometric stars without IR
    identifications we are able to extend the catalog to areas of the sky
    which were incomplete in the IRAS catalogs.  Furthermore, by retaining
    stars below the brightness limit of current surveys we are able to
    provide better spatial coverage to help point or position the next
    generation of infrared telescopes.