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.

SN1991bg-like supernovae are a distinct subclass of thermonuclear Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). Their spectral and photometric peculiarities indicate that their progenitors and explosion mechanisms differ from ‘normal’ SNe Ia. One method of determining information about supernova progenitors we cannot directly observe is to observe the stellar population adjacent to the apparent supernova explosion site to infer the distribution of stellar population ages and metallicities. We obtain integral field observations and analyse the spectra extracted from regions of projected radius $\sim\,\text{kpc}$ about the apparent SN explosion site for 11 91bg-like SNe in both early- and late-type galaxies. We utilise full-spectrum spectral fitting to determine the ages and metallicities of the stellar population within the aperture. We find that the majority of the stellar populations that hosted 91bg-like supernovae have little recent star formation. The ages of the stellar populations suggest that that 91bg-like SN progenitors explode after delay times of >6 Gyr, much longer than the typical delay time of normal SNe Ia, which peaks at $\sim$1 Gyr.

NGC 7421 is a barred spiral that is displaced from the centre of its optical envelope, and has a ‘bow-shock’-like western boundary, both suggestive of interaction with an intracluster medium. We have used five configurations of the ATCA to map the distribution and kinematics of HI in NGC 7421, and find supportive evidence for this scenario in the form of an HI ‘wake’. When compared with ROSAT PSPC observations of the diffuse hot gas in the surrounding group of galaxies, these new ATCA results will allow us to place new constraints on the density and dynamics of the intracluster medium.

This review concentrates on observations of neutral hydrogen in the Magellanic System, and what they reveal about the structure, dynamics, evolution and ultimate fate of the LMC and SMC. Some recent observations of 161 Cepheid variables in the SMC are used together with the HI observations to determine the geometry of the SMC. These show that it has an amazing depth of at least 30 kpc. To explain the results it is proposed that the SMC had a close encounter with the LMC which has warped the disk of the LMC, produced the bridge between the two galaxies and tidally fissioned the SMC. The SMC is in the process of irreversible disintegration. It is believed that the Magellanic Clouds are not bound to our Galaxy and approached us from the direction of Andromeda. They may have had a close encounter with Andromeda 3 x 109 years ago, which may explain the massive starburst which occurred in the LMC and SMC at that time. It is believed that the Magellanic Stream has been swept out of the inter-Cloud region by the ram pressure of the gaseous halo of our Galaxy. If dynamic friction is sufficient for the Clouds to be captured and to eventually collide with our Galaxy, a polar ring will be formed similar to that observed in some other galaxies. The polar ring of dwarf spheroidals and outlying globular clusters at present encircling our Galaxy may be the remnants of a previous collision with some other galaxy 6 x 109 years ago.

When I began my studies of solar radio astronomy, Dr J. L. Pawsey, who then led the radio astronomy group in the Division of Radiophysics, CSIRO, explained to me that the internal structure of the Sun was ‘well understood’, thanks to a lack of conflicting observational data, but that for the observable layers of the Sun, the photosphere, chromosphere and corona, a great many mysteries remained. I am sure that he would have been amused by the recent discovery that there are not enough neutrons coming from the core of the Sun. I shall devote most of my talk to matters about which we are fairly certain, but often I will only be able to give part of the story because the details have not yet emerged from the wealth of solar mysteries.

Any theory dealing with type IV solar radio bursts must explain the observed evolution of their brightness temperature and polarization. The behaviour of isolated, moving type IV sources is characterized by a long period of constant and low polarization during the major part of their lifetime, followed by a substantial increase in the degree of circular polarization during the declining phase. This behaviour puts severe constraints on and gives valuable clues as to the evolution of the physical conditions within the source.

The warm ionised medium (WIM), also referred to as diffuse ionised gas (DIG), contains most of the mass of interstellar medium in ionised form, contributing as much as 30% of the total atomic gas mass in the solar neighborhood. The advent of CCDs has enabled unprecedented study of this medium in external galaxies, probing a variety of environments. In particular, we can derive the morphology of the WIM, its distribution across disks, and the correlation with other Population I material. Spectroscopy of the WIM makes it possible to test various ionisation models. I will review here our current understanding of the properties of the WIM in spiral galaxies. A perhaps unexpected result is that the Hα emission from the WIM contributes about 40% of the total observed Hα luminosity from spirals. This places severe constraints on possible sources of ionisation, since only photoionisation by OB stars meets this requirement. Spectroscopic measurements of forbidden line strengths appear in reasonable agreement with photoionisation models. It is not yet clear if the Lyman continuum photons that ionise the WIM are mostly from OB stars located inside traditional HII regions, or from field OB stars.

Molecular line intensity calculations are not a straightforward task. We present a description of the basics for including molecular lines in synthetic spectra and of the input data needed. We aim both at describing ways in which molecular lines are computed in the context of photospheres of F–G–K stars, and to present a new online available version of our code for spectrum synthesis of cool stars. We apply calculations to molecular bands in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared main features, and comparisons with spectra of reference stars are shown. We provide user-friendly tools for the free use of the code Pfant. The code is available at http://trevisanj.github.io/PFANT.

After reviewing the HI content and distribution in extreme dwarf irregular (dIrr) and dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies, previous searches for HI in dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies will be discussed. I will report on the recent detections of HI probably associated with the Local Group (LG) dSph Sculptor and dIrr/dSph Phoenix, obtained with the ATCA, along with a similar detection in the Centaurus Group dSph CEN_41. Data obtained for Sculptor, using the Parkes Multibeam system, will also be presented and the advantage of the wide field for such nearby objects will be emphasised. Finally, the possible origin of the gas and the general problem of the missing ISM in dSph galaxies will be discussed.

Gold has suggested that pulsars are rotating neutron stars with strong magnetic fields. We have studied the simplest such model, one having an external dipole field aligned with the rotation axis.

The visually close binary system HD25811 is analysed to estimate its physical and geometrical parameters in addition to its spectral type and luminosity class. The method depends on obtaining the best fit between the entire observational spectral energy distribution (SED) of the system and synthetic SEDs created by atmospheric modelling of the individual components, consistent with the system's modified orbital elements. The parameters of the individual components of the system are derived as: Taeff = 6850 ± 50 K, Tbeff = 7000 ± 50 K, log ga = 4.04 ± 0.10, log gb = 4.15 ± 0.10, Ra = 1.96 ± 0.20 R⊙, Rb = 1.69 ± 0.20 R⊙, Mav = 1.m97 ± 0.20, Mbv = 2.m19 ± 0.20, La = 7.59 ± 0.70L⊙, Lb = 6.16 ± 0.70L⊙ with dynamical parallax $\pi (\textrm {mas})=5.095\pm 0.095$. The analysis shows that the system consists of a 1.55M⊙ F2 subgiant star and a less evolved 1.50M⊙ F1 secondary subgiant star with ages around 2 Gy formed by fragmentation. Synthetic magnitudes of both components were calculated under Johnson-Cousins, Strömgren, and Tycho photometrical systems.

Photometric observations in V and I bands and low-dispersion spectra of 10 ultrashort-period binaries (NSVS 2175434, NSVS 2607629, NSVS 5038135, NSVS 8040227, NSVS 9747584, NSVS 4876238, ASAS 071829-0336.7, SWASP 074658.62+224448.5, NSVS 2729229, NSVS 10632802) are presented. One of them, NSVS 2729229, is newly discovered target. The results from modelling and analysis of our observations revealed that (i) eight targets have overcontact configurations with considerable fill-out factor (up to 0.5), while NSVS 4876238 and ASAS 0718-03 have almost contact configurations; (ii) NSVS 4876238 is rare ultrashort-period binary of detached type; (iii) all stellar components are late dwarfs; (iv) the temperature difference of the components of each target does not exceed 400 K; (v) NSVS 2175434 and SWASP 074658.62 + 224448.5 exhibit total eclipses and their parameters could be assumed as well determined; (v) NSVS 2729229 shows emission in the Hα line. Masses, radii, and luminosities of the stellar components were estimated by the empirical relation ‘period, orbital axis’ for short- and ultrashort-period binaries. We found linear relations mass–luminosity and mass–radius for the stellar components of our targets.

The AAT’S new IR array camera, IRIS, has been used to image the Galactic Centre in the He I (2.058μm), H+ Br γ(2.166μm) and H2 1-0 S(l) (2.122μm) emission lines. The case is presented for UV-excitation of the molecular gas, as opposed to shocks.

It has long been suspected that winds of thermal and/or relativistic particles are a common feature of both active and normal galaxies. Galactic winds are likely to be an important mechanism, particularly at high redshift, by which energy and metals from galaxies are subsequently dumped into the intergalactic medium. Both observational and theoretical studies of wind processes remain in their infancy, largely because astrophysical winds are difficult to detect. Future satellite missions will make systematic surveys possible for the first time. In this review, we summarise the current evidence for galactic-scale winds, particularly in energy bands where the wind emission is spatially resolved. We also discuss observational limitations and problems of interpretation.

The differences between cold dark matter (CDM) and warm dark matter (WDM) in the formation of a group of galaxies are examined by running two identical simulations, where in the WDM case the initial power spectrum has been altered to mimic a 1-keV dark matter particle. The CDM initial conditions were constrained to reproduce at z = 0 the correct local environment within which a ‘Local Group’ (LG) of galaxies may form. Two significant differences between the two simulations are found. While in the CDM case a group of galaxies that resembles the real LG forms, the WDM run fails to reproduce a viable LG, instead forming a diffuse group which is still expanding at z = 0. This is surprising since, due to the suppression of small-scale power in its power spectrum, WDM is naively expected to only affect the collapse of small haloes and not necessarily the dynamics on a scale of a group of galaxies. Furthermore, the concentration of baryons in halo centre is greater in CDM than in WDM and the properties of the discs differ.

The determination of heavy element abundances from planetary nebula (PN) spectra provides an exciting opportunity to study the nucleosynthesis occurring in the progenitor asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star. We perform post-processing calculations on AGB models of a large range of mass and metallicity to obtain predictions for the production of neutron-capture elements up to the first s-process peak at strontium. We find that solar metallicity intermediate-mass AGB models provide a reasonable match to the heavy element composition of Type I PNe. Likewise, many of the Se and Kr enriched PNe are well fitted by lower mass models with solar or close-to-solar metallicities. However, those objects most enriched in Krand those PN with sub-solar Se/O ratios are difficult to explain with AGB-nucleosynthesis models. Furthermore, we compute s-process abundance predictions for low-mass AGB models of very low metallicity ([Fe/H]≈−2.3) using both scaled solar and an α-enhanced initial composition. For these models, O is dredged to the surface, which means that abundance ratios measured relative to this element (e.g. X/O) do not provide a reliable measure of initial abundance ratios, or of production within the star owing to internal nucleosynthesis.

The accumulation, compression, and cooling of the ambient interstellar medium (ISM) in large-scale flows powered by OB cluster feedback can drive the production of dense molecular clouds. We review the current state of the field, with a strong focus on the explicit modelling and observation of the neutral ISM. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations of colliding ISM flows provide a strong theoretical framework in which to view feedback-driven cloud formation, as do models of the gravitational fragmentation of expanding shells. Rapid theoretical developments are accompanied by a growing body of observational work that provides good evidence for the formation of molecular gas via stellar feedback—both in the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud. The importance of stellar feedback compared with other major astrophysical drivers of dense gas formation remains to be investigated further, and will be an important target for future work.

The Taurus Tunable Filter (TTF) has now been in regular use for seven years on the Anglo–Australian Telescope (AAT). The instrument was also used for three years (1996–1999) on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT). We present a brief review of the different applications in order to illustrate the versatility of tunable filters in optical/IR spectrophotometric imaging. Tunable filters are now either planned or under development for 6–10 m class telescopes which ensures their use for years to come.

We describe the scientific goals and survey design of the First Large Absorption Survey in H i (FLASH), a wide field survey for 21-cm line absorption in neutral atomic hydrogen (H i) at intermediate cosmological redshifts. FLASH will be carried out with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope and is planned to cover the sky south of $\delta \approx +40\,\deg$ at frequencies between 711.5 and 999.5 MHz. At redshifts between $z = 0.4$ and $1.0$ (look-back times of 4 – 8 Gyr), the H i content of the Universe has been poorly explored due to the difficulty of carrying out radio surveys for faint 21-cm line emission and, at ultra-violet wavelengths, space-borne searches for Damped Lyman- $\alpha$ absorption in quasar spectra. The ASKAP wide field of view and large spectral bandwidth, in combination with a radio-quiet site, will enable a search for absorption lines in the radio spectra of bright continuum sources over 80% of the sky. This survey is expected to detect at least several hundred intervening 21-cm absorbers and will produce an H i-absorption-selected catalogue of galaxies rich in cool, star-forming gas, some of which may be concealed from optical surveys. Likewise, at least several hundred associated 21-cm absorbers are expected to be detected within the host galaxies of radio sources at $0.4 < z < 1.0$ , providing valuable kinematical information for models of gas accretion and jet-driven feedback in radio-loud active galactic nuclei. FLASH will also detect OH 18-cm absorbers in diffuse molecular gas, megamaser OH emission, radio recombination lines, and stacked H i emission.

A description was given in a previous paper of the first observations of the two-dimensional image of the Crab Nebula as it became broadened by the solar corona in June 1969. In this paper we describe further observations at 80 MHz during 1970 and 1971, again using the CSIRO Radioheliograph at Culgoora, N.S.W., and we discuss the derived values for radial and tangential broadening in relation to previous work at various phases of the solar cycle. Other methods of observing angular broadening have generally employed two or three interferometers at different position angles, and only the simplest model for the image could be assumed in interpreting the results. The radioheliograph, however, has the advantage of recording the complete two-dimensional image and also, simultaneously, the surrounding background.