The future of centimetre and metre-wave astronomy lies with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a telescope under development by a consortium of 17 countries that will be 50 times more sensitive than any existing radio facility. Most of the key science for the SKA will be addressed through large-area imaging of the Universe at frequencies from a few hundred MHz to a few GHz. The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a technology demonstrator aimed in the mid-frequency range, and achieves instantaneous wide-area imaging through the development and deployment of phased-array feed systems on parabolic reflectors. The large field-of-view makes ASKAP an unprecedented synoptic telescope that will make substantial advances in SKA key science. ASKAP will be located at the Murchison Radio Observatory in inland Western Australia, one of the most radio-quiet locations on the Earth and one of two sites selected by the international community as a potential location for the SKA. In this paper, we outline an ambitious science program for ASKAP, examining key science such as understanding the evolution, formation and population of galaxies including our own, understanding the magnetic Universe, revealing the transient radio sky and searching for gravitational waves.

It has long been known that once you cross the event horizon of a black hole, your destiny lies at the central singularity, irrespective of what you do. Furthermore, your demise will occur in a finite amount of proper time. In this paper, the use of rockets in extending the amount of time before the collision with the central singularity is examined. In general, the use of such rockets can increase your remaining time, but only up to a maximum value; this is at odds with the ‘more you struggle, the less time you have' statement that is sometimes discussed in relation to black holes. The derived equations are simple to solve numerically and the framework can be employed as a teaching tool for general relativity.

We present stellar yields calculated from detailed models of low and intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. We evolve models with a range of mass from 1 to 6 M⊙, and initial metallicities from solar to 1/200th of the solar metallicity. Each model was evolved from the zero age main sequence to near the end of the thermally pulsing (TP) AGB phase, and through all intermediate phases including the core He-flash for stars initially less massive than 2.5 M⊙. For each mass and metallicity, we provide tables containing structural details of the stellar models during the TP-AGB phase, and tables of the stellar yields for 74 species from hydrogen through to sulfur, and for a small number of iron-group nuclei. All tables are available for download. Our results have many applications including use in population synthesis studies and the chemical evolution of galaxies and stellar systems, and for comparison to the composition of AGB and post-AGB stars and planetary nebulae.

Astrometric CCD observations have been made of wide (∼3 to 60 arcsec) southern double stars selected from the Washington Double Star catalogue (WDS). Southern double stars have not been well studied in the past; typically they had not been measured since about 1930, and ∼50% of them have been observed only once before our observations. Of the pairs measured ∼80% show no evidence of motion since the last observation. This is Paper II in which we present the observations of 290 WDS stars in the approximate RA range 17h 13m to 07h 30m and in the declination range −70° to −60°. We suggest 412 companions for these 290 stars and list 29 (10%) pairs that have shown significant motion.

This paper presents the design and science goals for the SkyMapper telescope. SkyMapper is a 1.3-m telescope featuring a 5.7-square-degree field-of-view Cassegrain imager commissioned for the Australian National University's Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. It is located at Siding Spring Observatory, Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia and will see first light in late 2007.

The imager possesses 16 384 × 16 384 0.5-arcsec pixels. The primary scientific goal of the facility is to perform the Southern Sky Survey, a six-colour and multi-epoch (four-hour, one-day, one-week, one-month and one-year sampling) photometric survey of the southerly 2π sr to g ∼23 mag. The survey will provide photometry to better than 3% global accuracy and astrometry to better than 50 milliarcsec. Data will be supplied to the community as part of the Virtual Observatory effort. The survey will take five years to complete.

Two new algorithms are described for matching two dimensional coordinate lists of point sources that are significantly faster than previous methods. By matching rarely occurring triangles (or more complex shapes) in the two lists, and by ordering searches by decreasing probability of success, it is demonstrated that very few candidates need be considered to find a successful match. Moreover, by immediately testing the suitability of a potential match using an efficient mechanism, the need to process the entire candidate set is avoided, yielding considerable performance improvements. Triangles are described by a cosine metric that reduces the density of triangle space, permitting efficient searches. An alternative shape characterization method that reduces computational overhead in the construction phase is discussed. The algorithms are tested on a set of 10 063 wide-field survey images, with fields-of-view up to 4.8° × 3.6°, successfully matching 100% of the images in a mean elapsed time of 6 ms (2.4 GHz Athlon CPU). The elapsed time of the searching phase is shown to vary by less than 1ms for list sizes between 10 and 200 points, demonstrating that fast, robust searches may be completed in nearly constant time, independent of list size.

Over the past several years, a system for accepting, servicing and returning the results from a large number of imaging requests has been developed for use with automated optical telescopes. One of the primary goals of this project is to increase the accessibility of astronomy to school, college and university students. A key component of this system is a request scheduling engine, which produces schedules for each telescope for its current night. This engine is dynamic, adjusting schedules to accommodate new requests and rescheduling failed requests on a time scale of the order of ten minutes. If a telescope is unavailable for an extended period, imaging requests will be reallocated to other telescopes in the network. Various models of dynamic scheduling are considered, and the current implementation is explored with a number of numerical experiments.

The performance of the mysql and oracle database systems have been compared for a selection of astronomy queries using large catalogues of up to a billion objects. The queries tested are those expected from the astronomy community: general database queries, cone searches, neighbour finding and cross matching. The catalogue preparation, sql query formulation and database performance is presented. Most of the general queries perform adequately when appropriate indexes are present in the database. Each system performs well for cone search queries when the Hierarchical Triangular Mesh spatial index is used. Neighbour finding and cross matching are not well supported in a database environment when compared to software specifically developed to solve these problems.

Photometry of the short-period (P ∼0.285 d) low-mass (M1 ∼0.67, M2 ∼0.48 M⊙) W UMa-type eclipsing binary RW Dor, mainly involving a good series of observations in 1987–88, using standard B and V filters at the Auckland Observatory, is examined. Analysis via light curve fittings alone permits both transit (near main sequence) and occultation (W-type contact binary) solutions. Consideration of proximity or other effects on the relatively small number of measured radial velocities gives rise to a more detailed review of the alternatives, though the (W-type) configuration determined by Hilditch, Hill & Bell (1992) is still confirmed. Further implications of this configuration are examined, given an apparent general trend to period decrease (Δ P/P ∼6 × 10−11), and some light curve asymmetry. This is consistent with the initially low-mass companion, Case-B scenario of Budding (1984). The evidence does suggest irregularity of the period variation however, and further detailed surveillance, including more spectroscopy, is desirable.

The O–C curve of the Algol-type eclipsing binary SW Cyg was analyzed using the Kalimeris method. The observed period variations with time, the P(E) function and its rate of change dP/dE, were calculated. The plots of O–C values as well as of P(E) and dP/dE against ephemeris (E) all show rather regular period variations in this system. To reveal any cyclic period variations, the P(E) function was subjected to Fourier analysis. A cyclic period change of average ≈27.8-yr duration was obtained. Also a relative mass transfer rate of Δm/m = −1.1 × 10−9 yr−1 was estimated. Finally the existence of a third companion is suggested, and possible causes of period variations in the system are discussed.

A new beam-combination and detection system has been installed in the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer working at the red end of the visual spectrum (λλ 500–950 nm) to complement the existing blue-sensitive system (λλ 430–520 nm) and to provide an increase in sensitivity. Dichroic beam-splitters have been introduced to allow simultaneous observations with both spectral systems, albeit with some restriction on the spectral range of the longer wavelength system (λλ 550–760 nm). The blue system has been upgraded to allow remote selection of wavelength and spectral bandpass, and to enable simultaneous operation with the red system with the latter providing fringe-envelope tracking. The new system and upgrades are described and examples of commissioning tests presented. As an illustration of the improvement in performance the measurement of the angular diameter of the southern F supergiant δ CMa is described and compared with previous determinations.

We investigate the present distributions of gas and young stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) based on fully self-consistent numerical simulations of the Clouds for the last ∼0.8 Gyr. Our principal results, which can be tested against observations, are as follows. The last dynamical and hydrodynamical interaction between the Clouds about ∼0.2 Gyr ago can form the apparently off-center bar and peculiar Hı spirals of the LMC. The present spatial distributions of young stars with ages less than ∼20 Myr in the LMC can be significantly asymmetric and clumpy owing to the interaction. A small but non-negligible fraction of stellar and gaseous components can be transferred from the SMC into the LMC during the interaction to form diffuse halo components around the LMC. The burst of star formation in the SMC can be synchronized with that of the LMC about 0.2 Gyr ago in some models. New stars can form from gas in the SMC's tidal tails, one of which can be observed as the Magellanic Bridge (MB). The metallicity distribution function of new stars in the MB has a peak of [Fe/H] ∼ −0.8, which is significantly smaller than the stellar metallicity of the SMC. Based on these results, we discuss the origin of 30 Doradus, the southern molecular ridge of the LMC, the globular cluster ESO 121-SC03, metal-poor inter-Cloud stars within the MB, and giant Hı holes of the LMC.

We estimate 34 sets of Galactic model parameters for three intermediate-latitude fields with Galactic longitudes l = 60°, l = 90°, and l = 180°, and we discussed their dependence on the volume. Also, we confirm the variation of these parameters with absolute magnitude and Galactic longitude. The star samples in two fields are restricted with bright and unit absolute-magnitude intervals, 4 < Mg ≤ 5, and 5 < Mg ≤ 6, whereas for the third field (l = 60°) a larger absolute-magnitude interval is adopted, 4 < Mg ≤ 10. The limiting apparent magnitudes of the star samples are g0 = 15 and g0 = 22.5 mag, which provide space densities within distances in the line of sight of ∼0.9 and 25 kpc.

The Galactic model parameters for the thin disc are not volume dependent. However, the ones for the thick disc and halo do show spectacular trends in their variation with volume, except for the scalelength of the thick disc. The local space density of the thick disc increases, whereas the scaleheight of the same Galactic component decreases monotonically. However, both model parameters approach asymptotic values at large distances.

The relative local space density of the halo estimated by fitting the density laws to the space densities evaluated for all volumes is constant, except for the small ones. However it is absolute-magnitude and Galactic longitude dependent. The axial ratio of the halo increases abruptly for the volumes where a thick disc is dominant, whereas it approaches an asymptotic value gradually for larger volumes, indicating a continuous transition from a disc-like structure to a spherical one at the outermost region of the Galaxy. The variation of the Galactic model parameters with absolute magnitude can be explained by their dependence on the stellar luminosity, whereas the variation with volume and Galactic longitude at short distances is a bias in analysis.

New angular diameter determinations for the bright southern F8 supergiant δ CMa enable the bolometric emergent flux and effective temperature of the star to be determined with improved accuracy. The spectral flux distribution and bolometric flux have been determined from published photometry and spectrophotometry and combined with the angular diameter to derive the bolometric emergent flux ℱ = (6.50 ± 0.24) × 107 Wm−2 and the effective temperature Teff = 5818 ± 53 K. The new value for the effective temperature is compared with previous interferometric and infrared flux method determinations. The accuracy of the effective temperature is now limited by the uncertainty in the bolometric flux rather than by the uncertainty in the angular diameter.

We present here a preliminary report and commentary of recently processed observations of Hα emission towards the Magellanic Bridge. These data have been analysed in an attempt to quantify the extent to which the stellar population is capable of reshaping the local ISM. We find that the Hα emission regions are small, weak and sparsely distributed, consistent with a relatively quiescent and inactive ISM where radiative and collisional ionisation is inefficient and sporadic. This suggests that energetic processes at the small scale (i.e. ∼tens of pc) do not dominate the energy balance within the ISM of the Bridge, which therefore hosts a pristine turbulent structure, otherwise inaccessible within our own Galaxy. We find Hα emission that is well correlated with detected 12CO(1–0) line emission (a proxy for molecular hydrogen), as well as other easily identified ring-like Hı features.

This paper presents SPLASH, a publicly available interactive visualisation tool for Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations. Visualisation of SPH data is more complicated than for grid-based codes because the data are defined on a set of irregular points and therefore requires a mapping procedure to a two dimensional pixel array. This means that, in practise, many authors simply produce particle plots which offer a rather crude representation of the simulation output. Here we describe the techniques and algorithms which are utilised in SPLASH in order to provide the user with a fast, interactive and meaningful visualisation of one, two and three dimensional SPH results.

While amongst the most luminous objects in the universe, many details regarding the inner structure of quasars remain unknown. One such area is the mechanism promoting increased polarisation in the broad absorption line troughs of certain quasars. This study shows how microlensing can be used to differentiate between two popular models that explain such polarisation through a realistic computational analysis. By examining a statistical ensemble of correlation data between two observables (namely image brightness and polarisation of the flux coming from the quasar), it was found that through spectropolarimetric monitoring it would be possible to discern between a model with an external scattering region and a model without one.

It is a long-standing and remarkable problem as to howstellar galactic nuclei (SGN) were formed in the central region of galaxies. In order to elucidate the formation processes of SGN, we numerically investigate gas dynamics, star formation, and chemical evolution in the central 1–1000 pc of gas disks embedded by galactic stellar spheroids. The main results of the present numerical study are: (a) SGN can be formed from dissipative, repeated merging of massive stellar and gaseous clumps that have typical masses of 105–106 M⊙ and are developed from nuclear gaseous spiral arms owing to local gravitational instability. Typically ∼5% of the masses of their host spheroids can be transfered to the central∼50 pc and thus become SGN. (b) SGN have very flattened shapes, and rotational kinematics and central velocity dispersions much smaller than those of their host spheroids. These structural and kinematic characteristics do not depend on model parameters such as masses of spheroids (Msph) and initial gas mass fraction (fg). (c) Stellar populations of SGN can show a wide rage of ages and metallicities, because SGN are formed from massive clumps with different star-formation and chemical-evolution histories. The mean metallicities of SGN can be significantly higher than those of their host spheroids. (d) More massive, higher density SGN can be formed in spheroids with higher surface brightness. Furthermore there can be a threshold value (∼0.2) of fg below which massive SGN are less likely to be formed in the central gas disks of spheroids. (e) More massive spheroids can have more massive, more metal-rich and higher-density SGN, because star formation and chemical enrichment proceed more efficiently owing to the less dramatic suppression of star formation by supernovae feedback effects in more massive spheroids.

Based on these results, we discuss correlations between the physical properties of SGN and those of their host galaxies, structural and kinematic properties of SGN of dwarf elliptical galaxies and the origin of very massive star clusters such as ω Cen and ultra-compact dwarf galaxies.