The design and construction of the 30 m2 Bicentennial Gamma Ray Telescope at Woomera South Australia is described. This novel instrument is now completed and commissioning is underway. It is designed to observe astronomical sources at energies greater than ∼ 500 GeV by means of atmospheric Cerenkov light. It contains 55 spherical, glass mirrors of focal length 2.66 m arranged in three groups of 10 m2, to focus the light onto three sets of detectors operated in fast co-incidence. The recording electronics includes a rubidium clock to enable pulsars to be studied.

Although only three antennas of the Australia Telescope Compact Array are currently operational, we have made use of the technique of bandwidth synthesis to make an image of the radio galaxy 2152 – 69. The three baselines were used to observe the source at three different frequencies, effectively resulting in nine baselines, which have been used to produce an image with a surprisingly high dynamic range, and with a slightly higher resolution than any existing image.

The production of such a worthwhile result, despite being made with a small subset of the capabilities of the Australia Telescope, bodes well for the future operation of the instrument.

Recent results have shown that Long-Period Variables (LPVs) with periods in the range 100 to 250 days have ages ~ 10 Gyr. We have studied the kinematics of a sample of such variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). A comparison with the kinematics of other populations (H I gas, CO molecular clouds, planetary nebulae, CH stars and old clusters) indicates that all populations younger than the old LPVs are dominated by a single common rotating disk, with the kinematics of the old LPVs being the first to indicate the presence in the LMC of a spheroidal population, with little or no rotation and a velocity dispersion ~ 6 times larger than that of the H I gas.

We discuss the appearance of solar active regions as seen in EUV line radiation in terms of a system of simple static coronal loop models. The loop models are based on those of Rosner et al. (1978) and may be understood in terms of the scaling laws introduced by these authors. We present here some generalized scaling laws which demonstrate that the global properties of loops in fixed length are insensitive to everything but the overall heating rate or the basal pressure. The model and scaling laws appear to describe hot loops (T< 106K) well. Empirically determined temperatures and densities in cooler loops are not in agreement with coronal loop models.

We have computed a simple model of an active region using a dipole magnetic structure. The individual loop structures were calculated on the basis of the two different assumptions of constant basal pressure and of constant heating rate. This paper presents a preliminary discussion of the results and a comparison with observation.

The cosmic ray array at Buckland Park is being developed to extend its useful collecting area at 1016 eV to ∼105m2 so that anisotropy measurements can be made at higher energies than previously possible with that system. A new array is also being designed to assist with this investigation. Design considerations for the new arrays are discussed.

The Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) has been used to observe the Sun with total-power fan-beams having a one-dimensional resolution of 41 arcsec at 843 MHz. The scans reveal clearly the rotation and evolution of the slowly-varying component as well as some burst activity. Low radio brightness features have also been identified, but the exact relationship between these features and coronal holes is, as yet, unclear. Several partial synthesis observations have been used to generate two-dimensional radioheliograms.

A sample of 339 extragalactic radio sources, noted as extended or multiple in the Molonglo Reference Catalogue, has been observed with the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope at 843 MHz. It is found that the strong sources all have edge-brightened morphology, while weak sources may be edge-brightened or edge-darkened. The morphological classification of Fanaroff and Riley is not a sharp division by luminosity. The degree of edge-darkening or edge-brightening is better parametrised by one-dimensional moments along the major axis than by the ratio of the separation between brightness maxima to the total extent as used by FR.

The most sensitive X-ray survey available is a deep exposure made by the Einstein Observatory of a 40 arcmin field in the southern constellation of Pavo. This survey revealed 33 X-ray sources, most of which were optically identified with quasars. Here, we report radio observations of the Pavo region at 843 MHz made with the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope. Eight overlapping fields were combined to produce the most sensitive radio map of the region to date, revealing 33 radio sources above a flux density of 2.4 mJy. Only one of these radio sources corresponded to an X-ray object: a quasar at z = 1.13. We also used the Parkes-Tidbinbilla Interferometer, at 2.29 GHz and 8.41 GHz, to observe some of the stronger radio sources.

From these multi-wavelength observations of the Pavo field it is apparent that, to the sensitivity of the surveys involved, (i) there is little correlation between X-ray and radio detections, and (ii) most of the X-ray sources have optical counterparts while few of the radio ones do, and (iii) there is some confirmation that X-ray emission is higher for objects with flat radio spectra (i.e., a dominant core) than for steep spectrum sources.

The Buckland Park air shower array has been used for some time as an ultra-high-energy gamma-ray telescope operating at photon energies of about 1015 eV. Other such telescopes have reported apparent bursts of events from astrophysical objects under study. We report here searches for UHE bursts from 14 southern hemisphere objects studied in our UHE programme. No conclusive evidence has been found for any UHE burst activity from these sources in the period 1986-1988. There is possible evidence for activity associated with 1700-377 and SN1987A.

Large apparent superluminal velocities are observed in nuclear jets in Active Galaxies, indicating the presence of relativistic velocities almost along the line of sight. If the flow is well collimated, as suggested by the large scale radio structure, the inferred alignment leads to difficulties with source statistics. Here a modification of the usual relativistic beam model is proposed, in which the jet is assumed to contain azimuthal (swirling) flow. Perturbation analysis is used to show that the jet is unstable to a Kelvin-Helmholtz helical standing wave, the wavelength of which increases without bound in the limit of vanishing swirl. This instability may cause a cylindrical jet to follow a helical path in space, thereby reducing the implied alignment of a superluminal source, and providing a natural interpretation of non-constant superluminal velocities.

Observations of polarized emission and consequently the investigation of magnetic fields in northern galaxies, have been conducted successfully for some time with, for example, the 100-m Effelsberg telescope of the Max-Planck-Institut-für Radioastronomie and the VLA. However, the opportunity to make corresponding studies in the southern hemisphere has only recently become possible. Therefore, we have begun a long-range project aimed at studying the morphology and dynamics of southern galaxies using the facilities of the Parkes and Molonglo radio telescopes, the Siding Spring optical facilities and the Australia Telescope. Here we present preliminary results from Parkes observations of the three well known galaxies: NGC 253, NGC 4945 and M 83.

Studies stimulated by the interpretation of the Elatina formation in South Australia as a fossil record of solar activity have led to discoveries of previously unnoticed features of the sunspot cycle record and to a theory of origin of the sunspot cycle that postulates a solar core in torsional motion and a magnetomechanical wave that couples to the photosphere. The considerations supporting the solar interpretation of the Elatina formation are gathered together.

Various authors have reported observations of the flux and circular polarization for the three stars PG 1658 + 441, PG 1533 − 057 and K 813 − 14. On the basis of the observational data, the stars were classified as magnetic white dwarfs. To place constraints on the magnetic field strengths and geometries of these stars, the relevant authors qualitatively compared the data with available theory and, in two cases, used a model of optically thin hydrogen threaded by a magnetic field.

In this paper we use a more detailed model for magnetic white dwarfs to assess the results previously obtained for these three stars. We find that, in two cases, the observed spectra can be explained by the Zeeman splitting of hydrogen lines in a stellar magnetic field which takes the form of a dipole situated at the centre of the star. The circular polarization data for PG 1658 + 441, however, may indicate a field geometry for this star which is significally different from that of a centred dipole.

We give a progress report on a programme of observations to obtain flux densities at 8.4 GHz for a large sample of radio sources selected from the Parkes 2700 MHz Survey. So far, about 1000 flux measurements have been made with a typical accuracy of 10%.

A theory of linear acceleration emission, with possible application to pulsars, is developed. The equation of motion for a relativistic charged particle accelerated in the field of a longitudinal wave is solved to first order in the electric potential and used to derive the first order current. The power emitted and the absorption coefficient are calculated and the conditions under which masing can occur are discussed.

We report here a search of data recorded by the Buckland Park air shower array from the first year after the supernova and set an upper limit to the proton luminosity of SN1987A of 7.7 × 1040 ergs s−1.

The calculation of coupling coefficients for muon telescopes has previously used interpolation from a limited set of asymptotic directions of arrival of primary particles. Furthermore, these calculations have not incorporated curvature of the atmosphere and thus diverge from the true response at zenith angles greater than about 75 degrees. The necessary extensions to calculate coupling coefficients at arbitrary zenith angles are given, including an improved method of incorporating the asymptotic directions of the primary particles. It is shown, using this method, that certain coupling coefficients are highly sensitive to small changes in asymptotic directions for some telescope configurations.

The detection of non-radial oscillations on late-type dwarf stars may require the measurement of Doppler shifts of order 10 cm s−1. We report observations using the coudé echelle spectrograph of the 3.9 m Anglo-Australian Telescope which reveal a noise level in a 1 minute integration about a factor of one hundred greater than this. We then discuss a method of imposing a set of stable reference features on stellar spectra to permit Doppler measurements of the required accuracy. The method exploits a voltage-tuned solid Fabry-Perot interferometer whose passbands are fixed by a servo-control system to the light from a HeNe laser whose frequency is polarization-stablized. The desired wavelength stability demands careful control of the voltage, temperature and tilt of the etalon.

NGC 6302 is one of the highest excitation planetary nebulae known. It has an obscured central star with a temperature estimated at 430,000 K. We present here CCD images in Hα and Hβ of NGC 6302, and interpret the differences between the images as being due to extinction caused by dust within the nebula. The dust appears to be concentrated in the core, as expected from infrared observations. There is no evidence of patchy foreground extinction, although there is a slight difference in the average extinction between the eastern and western lobes of the nebula. A comparison between the Hα image and a 5 GHz map gives a dust extinction of ΔAV~3.5 to the central star. The outer contours of the 5 GHz map are not in good agreement with the optical images, and further observations at this frequency would be useful.

Continuous, wide sky coverage is essential for the detection and monitoring of infrequent, short-lived events of astrophysical interest such as supernova and nova explosions, variable X-ray sources, gamma ray bursts, gravity waves and stellar and solar flares. We propose to (1) examine past radio propagation records and (2) develop new computer based radio receivers to monitor and log ionospheric perturbations associated with these events.