Proceedings of the 128th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Coolfont, West Virginia, USA, October 20-24, 1986.

The principal purpose of IAU Colloquium No. 35 was to discuss those aspects of the techniques of the compilation, evaluation, and distribution of data that are common to astrometry, photometry and spectrometry of stars and stellar systems. In the announcement of the Colloquium, it was suggested that there would be special emphasis on the techniques of quality control, and on the standards for the presentation of numerical data in both printed and com puter-readable form. As the meeting progressed it became clear that the lack of a standard, unambiguous system for the identifi cation of stellar objects was a source of much confusion and inefficiency in the use of existing data files. This and other such matters were the subject of further discussions by Commission 5 at the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which was held at Grenoble during the following fortnight, 24 August - 2 September 1976. The proposal for the Colloquium was prepared by J. Jung, who was then Director of the Centre des Donnees Stellaires at Stras bourg, and G. A. Wilkins, Chairman of the IAU Working Group on Numerical Data, and was accepted by the IAU Executive Committee on the recommendation of the President of Commission 5, with the support of Commissions 25, 29 and 45. The Scientific Organising Committee consisted of W. Fricke, B. Hauck, C. Jaschek, J. Jung, B. Kukarkin, P. Lacroute, A. Underhill and G. A. Wilkins (Chair man). The Local Organising Committee consisted of A."

Over the past ten years, since the MERIT project began in 1980, great changes have taken place and significant advances made in the area of Earth Rotation and Coordinate Reference Frames. Symposium 105, held at the 125th Anniversary Meeting of the International Association of Geodesy, August 1989, was devoted to this subject. Major improvements in techniques, such as VLBI and laser ranging, have been accompanied by corresponding improvements in data-processing procedures and theories of relevant phenomena. The papers included in this volume provide both a comprehensive record of past discoveries and a sound basis for further advances. Section headings are as follows: - Earth Rotation: Determination and Prediction - Earth Rotation: Interpretation - Reference Frames

Proceedings of the 128th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Coolfont, West Virginia, USA, October 20-24, 1986.