The proposal made to ASTEC for an Australian systhesis telescope (AST) is for a high-sensitivity, high-resolution synthesis array to be located at the Australian National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Parkes, and used in conjunction with the existing 64-m antenna at that site as a national facility (Wellington 1976). During the past 18 months a design study group consisting of representatives from the Australian National University, University of Sydney, University of Tasmania and CSIRO has been investigating the design of such an array. This paper reports on one aspect of this design, the array configuration.

A simple model is presented for electron acceleration in extragalactic radio sources with two hot spots. The effect of diffusive shock acceleration by multiple shocks is calculated numerically, with adiabatic and synchrotron losses included. It is found for the sources 3C 20 and 3C 268·4 that a consistent set of model parameters exists which reproduce the observations. The model fails to reproduce the observations for the source 3C 196.

The probability of a collision with each of the terrestrial planets due to each of the Aten-Apollo-Amor asteroids discovered through to 1989 May is calculated; the range of possible impact velocities is also given in each case. For Mercury there are eight possible impactors known, with a mean collision probability of 1.30 × 10−9 per year; for Venus, the 32 planet-crossing asteroids give a mean collision probability of 9.63 × l0−9 per year; for the Earth the corresponding figures are 65 and 6.93 × 10−9 per year; and for Mars, 116 and 3.41 × 10−10 per year. The rate for Mars does not include the full range of Mars-crossers (i.e. those of 1.30<perihelion distance <1.67 AU are not included here), and for the interior planets any undiscovered population of asteroids would also alter the mean probability of an impact.

Some statistics from 368 plates of 111 double stars observed between July 1965 and January 1969 with the Yale-Columbia 26-inch refractor at Mount Stromlo Observatory, are presented. The results of plate measurements, and a description of the work, are to be published elsewhere.

The origin of cylindrically symmetric supernova remnants (SNR) is discussed. The results of numerical simulations of the two best examples of barrel-like SNRs, SN 1006 and G296.5+10.0, are presented.

A considerable amount of observational interest in short timescale phenomena has developed in optical astronomy in recent years. This interest has stemmed primarily from search efforts directed towards optical pulsars and the study of rapid fluctuations in cataclysmic variable and flare stars. Such studies have been made feasible by the development of the necessary photon pulse-counting technology required for rapid data sampling.

The arrangement whereby the front end of a radio astronomical receiver is located at the focal plane of a paraboloidal telescope causes the incoming waves to be reflected between focal plane and vertex. The result is a sometimes simple, sometimes complex wave pattern on the output of an associated spectrometer and is known as baseline ripple.

Sources of the Type I storms are thought to lie on closed magnetic loop systems above bipolar sunspots. Usually one sunspot is stronger than the other in the bipolar magnetic structure, and accordingly only one radio source associated with the stronger sunspot is usually observed. Occasionally however a double radio source is observed in conjunction with the bipolar sunspots. In such a case the double radio source should be intrinsically bipolar, viz. the two components should emit opposite senses of circular polarization (in this paper we use the word polarity for simplicity).

This is a preliminary report on the first Strömgren–Hβ photometric survey of yellow supergiants in the Magellanic Clouds. Less luminous supergiants have been chosen in preference for this program in order to facilitate calculation of their physical parameters. This will not only provide a basis for future detailed spectral analysis of these stars, but will allow a better calibration of the colours derived from model atmospheres for this type of star. The colours of these stars are more affected by changes in metallicity than the hotter stars more frequently studied, and since they are also young, they reflect the metallicity of their local InterStellar Medium (ISM). If indeed the Strömgren abundance index m 1 can be calibrated successfully for these stars, then their observation in any galaxy will provide the metallicity of that particular ISM. Our results show that it is important for future colours to be calculated over the range of turbulent velocities important for supergiants.

This paper discusses the importance of having a structured approach to educating the general public in astronomy. It outlines the role schools, planetaria and national observatories must play in this process. It also addresses the question of how astronomical events are best exploited to activate the public’s interest in astronomy.

This paper presents observations of weak X-ray sources at photon energies between 20 and 100 keV which were made during a balloon flight conducted from Mildura, Australia on 29 February 1968. Results obtained from Sco XR-1 and the Sagittarius region during this flight have been presented elsewhere, and here we report additional results obtained during a search of an area of sky in which several sources have been reported from rocket experiments at photon energies below about 10 keV. The detector used was an actively collimated and shielded NaI(T1) crystal, 2 mm thick and 54.3 cm2 in area. Incident photons were sorted into 16 energy channels between 7 and 167 keV (1.76 to 0.07 Å). The collimator field of view was 8°FWHM; the telescope axis was fixed at a zenith angle of 32° and its azimuth angle was varied by rotating the observatory below the balloon. This allowed the telescope to scan back and forth in azimuth across a source, the azimuth angle at any time being indicated by magnetometers.

Over the past ten years, there has been considerable interest in the infrared continua of quasars, however few published colours exist in the literature. The only major compilation of infrared data out to 2.2 μ is that of Oke et al. (1970). The intrinsic faintness of the sources prevented the acquisition of significant high quality data. This situation is not expected to remain static for very long. The recent introduction of new high sensitivity InSb detectors has made it possible for a large number of sources to be measured, and published data is expected to increase significantly over the next few years.

A Skylark rocket (SL727) carrying an X-ray astronomy experiment prepared by the University of Adelaide and Tasmania (UAT) was launched from Woomera at 0030 UT on July 10, 1970. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was detected during the flight, and the recent observation of structure within the Cloud is confirmed. In particular, the data support the suggestion of X-ray emission from the 30 Doradus (Tarantula) Nebula.

The rate of change of magnetic flux Ф contained within a closed curve C moving with the plasma velocity u, is given by

where B is the magnetic induction and S is a surface bounded by the curve C. Using the hydromagnetic equation,

where η is the magnetic diffusivity, this becomes

In many astrophysical contexts η is small and thus approximately

Since this implies that the flux within any moving closed curve does not change, the field is said to be ‘frozen into’ the plasma and moving with it.

The Parkes-MIT-NRAO (PMN) 4.85 GHz continuum radio survey of the southern sky was undertaken in 1990 June and November. This survey was performed on the Parkes 64 m telescope using the NRAO seven-beam receiver. A point-source catalogue of 36,640 radio sources has been produced for the Southern Survey zone −87.5° ≤δ ≤ −37° and for the Tropical Survey zone −29° ≤δ ≤ −9.5°. The flux limit of this survey varies with declination and is typically about 30 mJy.

We have begun to cross-correlate the PMN data with sources contained in catalogues compiled at radio, and other, wavelengths. We have found associations for 96% of the PKSCAT90 2700 MHz database sources, and 95% of the Molonglo 408 MHz Catalogue sources within in the PMN Southern and Tropical Survey zones.

A program to identify the optical counterparts of PMN Southern Survey point sources, S4.85 GHz ≥ 70 mJy, using the COSMOS database, is under way. To facilitate this programme we are improving the positional accuracy of PMN sources with observations made at the Australia Telescope National Facility compact array. We have developed a new “snapshot” mode of observing to process the large number of sources (~ 8000) in our sample. It is possible to obtain accurate positions from three snapshots efficiently with a total integration of < 3 minutes.