In 1983 ultra high energy γ-rays were detected from Cygnus X-3. This was of particular interest since it is the first identifiable source of cosmic rays. Since then, there has been an explosion of interest in the field with more than twenty air shower arrays planned or being used to search for γ-rays at energies above 1014 eV. Observational techniques for both very high energy and ultra high energy γ-ray astronomy are described and existing and proposed experiments reviewed with particular reference to their geographical locations. The results obtained so far are summarised together with some of the models proposed to explain them.

A description of the production of astronomical speckles is given in terms of elementary physical principles. Using simple probability arguments, estimâtes are made of signal-to-noise requirements and magnitude limits for détection; data réduction techniques are discussed. A speckle System used on the AAT (Anglo-Australian Télescope) with the IPCS as detector is described.

The discoveries made by the Voyager 2 spacecraft at Uranus in January 1986 are discussed in the light of the modern Laplacian theory for the formation of the solar system. Various accounts of this theory, which has as its basis the concept of supersonic convective turbulence, have been presented at previous meetings of the ASA (Prentice 1977, 1979, 1981a). The most important confirmation by Voyager was the discovery of 2 new satellite groups near orbital radii 2½ RU and 3½ RU (RU = Uranus’ equatorial radius = 26, 200 km), as first predicted in 1977. The discovery that the densities of the Uranian satellites are consistent with these bodies having condensed in a single compositional class, consisting of anhydrous rock, NH3 ice and CH4.6H2O clathrate hydrate in normal solar proportions, confirms the hypothesis that the chemistry of all planetary/regular satellite systems are accounted for by a single choice of the turbulence parameter, namely β = 0.107 ±0.001. The implication of the Voyager data for the origin of comets is also discussed.

Abstract: The Australia Telescope is an advanced radio astronomy facility planned to satisfy the major research requirements of Australian scientists. The construction project, begun in 1983, is now well along the way to completion as an Australian Bicentennial activity. The civil works at the main Culgoora site are complete. The construction of the seven 22-m antennas has begun: the first will be handed over in November 1986, the last a year later. Most other areas of the project – feed construction, receiver construction, computer development etc. are on schedule.

Astronomy has always occupied a prominent place in scientific research in Australia. For this reason it is of interest to see which institutions, journals and subfields of astronomy feature in the Australian research effort. A sample of 1166 astronomy papers produced by Australian authors in recent years has been compiled, and from this statistics have been derived for the number of times authors’ institutions are referred to and also those journals which are most frequently used. In addition, an analysis has been made of the various subfields where Australian astronomy research is concentrated, how this compares with the rest of the world, and which institutions and journals figure most prominently in each particular subfield.

The geographic South Pole, where the United States maintains a year-round scientific station, affords a number of unique advantages for certain types of astronomical observations. These include: continuous viewing and constant declination of ail objects in the southern celestial hemisphere, exceedingly low humidity, extended periods of coronal seeing, high altitude, and uniform terrain. The areas of research that have already benefited immensely from thèse extraordinary features are helioseismology and submillimeter astronomy. Unparalleled observations of global solar oscillations have already yielded significant information about the structure and dynamics of the Sun’s interior. Far infrared measurements of various galactic and extra-galactic regions have attained an unprecedented level of sensitivity, limited for the first time only by the noise inherent in the detector. In addition to further helioseismological observations, currently planned future activities include observational cosmology and ultra high energy gamma ray astronomy.

Recent laboratory experiments have confirmed theoretical expectations that the aligned rotator model (Goldreich and Julian 1969) does not function in the way originally expected, if at all. These experiments confirm that the nonneutral (completely charge-separated) plasma is isolated into finite regions, which in the case of the magnetosphere about an aligned rotator means in general that there is no plasma from the neutron star to be found at the light-cylinder. Hence the interesting pulsar-like properties originally postulated no longer follow.

The Class I/Class II division of extragalactic radio sources by Fanaroff-Riley is a manifestation of important physical differences existing in radio sources.

It is proposed that the division essentially arises from the differing Mach numbers in Class I and Class II jets. The low Mach number, Class I jets are susceptible to turbulence, are decelerated by entrainment of the surrounding medium and maintain an anomalously high surface brightness as a result. The high Mach number, Class II jets are less turbulent and remain supersonic, produce high pressure shocks along their lengths and terminate via a strong shock against the IGM.

An analysis of the energy balance in both types of source reveals jet velocities of the order of 5-10,000 km s-1 for Class I jets and mildly relativistic velocities for Class II jets.

The important rôle of optical and X-ray observations in determining the gravitational field of pressure distribution in radio galaxies will be discussed with examples given of NGC1399 and IC4296.

Reported data on the Chandlerian nutation show that there are irregular yet related changes in the rate of energy gain, the damping and the phase, changes which were remarkably great in the late 1920s. Dynamical interpretations need a model that has friction elements as well as springs and dashpots; it then offers further applications as well; e.g. to a correlation between reported values of the Love number k and tidal potentials. The model is used in discussing the increases in amplitude and the advances in phase; the short and long-term rates of energy gain and their interruptions and damping; the correlation between short Chandlerian periods and large amplitudes in the annual nutation; and the correlation between damping and the apparent frequency. Doubts are expressed about nutational values of Q. A geophysical interpretation of the model is obtained from seismic data. It was found that every large rise in the nutational energy was preceded by an earthquake in the Andes region; and that the secular rate of energy gain varied with the circum-Pacific seismicity. Decreases in these were accompanied by rises in the Earth’s rotational acceleration and were followed by deep earthquakes in a diminishing region east of the Andes. It appears that the nutational and seismic events are due to tectonic stress, and intermittently this is relieved by subduction.

The Parkes 64-m radio telescope equipped with a 3 GHz maser on loan from the Onsala Space Observatory has been used to observe the three ground-state transitions of CH (at 3264, 3335 and 3349 MHz) towards a total of 74 HII regions, mostly at southern declinations. In this paper the regions and related characteristics are listed, and the CH spectra displayed.

On 14 March 1986 the European Space Agency’s Giotto spacecraft passed within 600 km of the nucleus of Halley’s comet. During the encounter a radio science experiment was conducted with the aim of determining the total amount of cometary material which impacted the probe. In this paper the theory and implementation of the experiment are discussed and a summary of experimental results is given.

Henry Abraham died on 9 December 1985. A few days earlier, he explained to me the work he had been doing in recent years, and gave me responsibility for his documents and notes. Amongst them were the manuscript for the above paper, prepared about 1979 but not submitted for publication then, and meticulous and extensive notes which examine further the questions raised by the paper. It has seemed to me to be appropriate to submit for publication the above paper as he wrote it, and to add a summary of his subsequent work as I interpret it.

The Chatterton Astronomy Department has constructed an 11.4 m baseline prototype stellar interferometer as part of its long term programme of high angular resolution astronomy. The background and present status of the instrument is described.

The 1665 and 1667 MHz OH intensity towards Halley’s comet has been monitored during the period October 1985 to April 1986. The flux density variation during the course of the apparition roughly follows the predictions of Schloerb and Gerard (1985), although we find a systematically lower flux than they predicted. The relative intensities of these lines are approximately in the ratio expected for thermodynamic equilibrium.

We report the development of a radio-linked interferometer which uses the 64-m telescope at Parkes, NSW, and one of the NASA antennas (64-m or 34-m) at Tidbinbilla, ACT. With a baseline of approximately 275 km, this is the world’s longest real-time interferometer; it will be usable at frequencies of 1.6, 2.3, 8.4, and 22 GHz to give angular resolutions of 0.13, 0.09, 0.03, and 0.01 arcsec respectively. The interferometer has already operated successfully in a limited mode and is expected to become fully operational in its initial configuration by September 1985. Operation at a range of frequencies and with progressive enhancements is planned up to the commissioning of the Australia Telescope in 1988.

A review is presented of the evidence for anisotropies of galactic origin in the charged cosmic ray particle intensity at median primary energies of detection in the range 1011 – 1014eV. It concerns the period from 1958, when the first substantial long-term observations at energies of solar and sidereal modulation near 1011eV commenced underground, until 1984, by which time results were available from a number of years of accurate observations with detectors of small air showers at energies near 1014eV, too high for complicating effects of solar origin to be present. There is evidence for the existence of both unidirectional and bidirectional galactic anisotropies over the whole energy range. Tentative descriptive models are discussed in relation to advances both in solar and sidereal analytical techniques and in the ability of experimenters to account for and exploit the modulating influence of the heliomagnetosphere at the lower energies of detection.

A new distance modulus (31.23) to the Virgo cluster is derived using the distances to nearby galaxies given by Sandage and Tammann, de Vaucouleurs, ourselves and DDO observers. This when combined with the undisturbed mean Virgo cluster velocity 1182 km s-1, gives a value for the global Hubble constant as 67 ±4 km s-1Mpc-1.

The Chatterton Astronomy Department of the University of Sydney is proposing the construction of a very high angular resolution stellar interferometer of major astronomical and international significance. Based on the prototype modern Michelson stellar interferometer which the Department has developed, the new instrument will be used in a wide range of astrophysical programmes. The siting, specification, design and costing of the instrument are outlined.

Meteor rates have been measured with a large HF Radar at a number of frequencies. At the top end of the HF band our results match those of Greenhow (1963). However at lower frequencies we find high echo rates which indicate that past observations measured only a few percent of the total meteor flux incident on the Earth’s atmosphere. This explains the ‘missing mass’ discrepancy observed when radar results are compared with satellite or visual data. Accounting for’this missing mass results in a four-fold increase in the calculated total meteoroid mass influx to the surface of the Earth from 4000 to 16,000 tonnes per year. Our results also imply that the majority of echoes originate from altitudes above 100 km.