This study focuses on spectral energy distributions and light-curves of blazars and radio galaxies, and the testing of the existing models with a view to appropriately predict a new model that will nearly accurately present the nature of the energy outflows of these super-massive bodies. Understanding blazar emission is very important as it relates more directly to the physics of the AGN’s central black hole. X-ray, radio and gamma-ray wavelength range data on blazars and radio galaxies from archived data has been collected and a detailed investigation of the spectral energy distribution patterns of the blazars and radio galaxies carried out so as to fit the data in the various models. The results of this investigation will be discussed in detail in this presentation.

Low-frequency radio emission allows powerful active galactic nuclei (AGN) to be selected in a way that is unaffected by dust obscuration and orientation of the jet axis. It also reveals past activity (e.g. radio lobes) that may not be evident at higher frequencies. Currently, there are too few “radio-loud” galaxies for robust studies in terms of redshift-evolution and/or environment. Hence our use of new observations from the Murchison Widefield Array (the SKA-Low precursor), over the southern sky, to construct the GLEAM 4-Jy Sample (1,860 sources at S151MHz > 4 Jy). This sample is dominated by AGN and is 10 times larger than the heavily relied-upon 3CRR sample (173 sources at S178MHz > 10 Jy) of the northern hemisphere. In order to understand how AGN influence their surroundings and the way galaxies evolve, we first need to correctly identify the galaxy hosting the radio emission. This has now been completed for the GLEAM 4-Jy Sample – through repeated visual inspection and extensive checks against the literature – forming a valuable, legacy dataset for investigating relativistic jets and their interplay with the environment.

Nuclear black holes in dwarf galaxies are important for understanding the low end of the supermassive black hole mass distribution and the black hole-host galaxy scaling relations. IC 750 is a rare system which hosts an AGN, found in ˜0.5% of dwarf galaxies, with circumnuclear 22 GHz water maser emission, found in ˜3–5% of Type 2 AGNs. Water masers, the only known tracer of warm, dense gas in the center parsec of AGNs resolvable in position and velocity, provide the most precise and accurate mass measurements of SMBHs outside the local group. We have mapped the maser emission in IC 750 and find that it traces a nearly edge-on warped disk, 0.2 pc in diameter. The central black hole has an upper limit mass of ˜1 × 105 M⊙ and a best fit mass of ˜8 × 104 M⊙, one to two orders of magnitude below what is expected from black hole-galaxy scaling relations. This has implications for models of black hole seed formation in the early universe, the growth of black holes, and their co-evolution with their host galaxies.

Presented here, is a summary of discussions at African Astronomical Society (AfAS) Science Business Meeting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 10-11 October 2019. This summary was deliberated with delegates of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Symposium 356, during a lunch session of the meeting.

Compact objects are of great interest in astrophysical research. There are active research interests in understanding better various aspects of formation and evolution of these objects. In this paper we addressed some problems related to the compact objects mass limit. We employed Einstein field equations (EFEs) to derive the equation of state (EoS). With the assumption of high densities and low temperature of compact sources, the derived equation of state is reduced to polytropic kind. Studying the polytropic equations we obtained similar physical implications, in agreement to previous works. Using the latest version of Mathematica-11 in our numerical analysis, we also obtained similar results except slight differences in accuracy.

Taking secondary particles produced from dark matter (DM) annihilation process to the origin of the extended diffuse radio emission observed in galaxy clusters, we studied both their morphology and radio spectral profile using simulated Coma like galaxy clusters. We have considered a neutralino annihilation channel dominated by $b\overline b $ species with a branching ratio of 1 and neutralino mass of 35 GeV with annihilation cross-section of 1×10-26 cm3 s-1. The radio emission maps produced for the two simulated galaxy clusters which are based on the MUsic SImulation of galaxy Clusters (MUSIC) dataset reveal the observed radio halo morphology showing radio emission both from the central regions of the cluster and substructures lying out off cluster centre. The flux density curve is in a good agreement for ν ≤ 2 GHz with the obsevational values for the Coma cluster of galaxies showing a small deviation at higher frequencies.

The formation of stars constitutes one of the basic problems in astrophysics. Understanding star formation efficiency of molecular clouds (MCs) of a galaxy is necessary for studying the galactic evolution. Present data and theoretical formulations show that the structure and dynamics of the interstellar medium (ISM) are extremely complex. Therefore, there is no simple model that can explain adequately the star formation efficiency of MCs because of its complex nature. The initial mass of the cloud needed for collapse varies based on the environment in which the cloud resides and the strength of its magnetic field, turbulence, as well as the speed of rotation. In this paper, we estimate the star formation efficiency by combining pre-determined models and the critical mass formulated by Kumssa & Tessema (2018).

Multi-wavelength emission maps from dark matter (DM) annihilation processes in galaxy clusters are produced using Marenostrum-MultiDark SImulation of galaxy Clusters (MUSIC-2) high resolution cosmological simulations. Comparison made with observational radio emission flux data (spectral shape) and the spatial distribution from the simulated emission maps show that secondary particles from DM annihilation could describe the origin of energetic particles which are the sources of the diffuse radio emission observed in large number of galaxy clusters. DM sub-halos which are dominantly composed of DM, but with very little or no gas and stellar content, are ideal objects to study the nature and properties of DM. Therefore, statistical studies of a large number of them as well the emission maps of high mass-to-light ratio DM sub-halos will not only explain the observed diffused radio emission but also provide very crucial information about the nature and properties of DM particles.

We report the results of 14 years of monitoring of G188.95+0.89 periodic 6.7 GHz methanol masers using the Hartebeesthoek 26-m radio telescope. G188.95+0.89 (S252, AFGL5180) is a radio-quiet methanol maser site that is often interpreted as precursors of ultra-compact HII regions or massive protostar sites. At least five bright spectral components were identified. The maser feature at 11.36 km s-1 was found to experience an exponential decay during the monitoring period. The millimetre continuum reveals two cores associated with the source.

In this study, we have investigated the stellar evolution models using the open-source software instrument Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics. We examine the evolution of angular momentum and the stability of mass transfer in the evolution of Algol-type binaries through the inner Lagrangian point via the Roche lobe overflow. Also, we have determined the ongoing challenge of chemical mixing and exhibit improvements that make easier the simulation of Algol-type binaries evolution.

This paper studies the cosmology of accelerating expansion of the universe in modified teleparallel gravity theory. We discuss the cosmology of f(T, B) gravity theory and its implication to the new general form of the equation of state parameter wTB for explaining the late-time accelerating expansion of the universe without the need for the cosmological constant scenario. We examine the numerical value of wTB in different paradigmatic f(T, B) gravity models. In those models, the numerical result of wTB is favored with observations in the presence of the torsion scalar T associated with a boundary term B and shows the accelerating expansion of the universe.

The ionospheric critical frequency (foF2) from ionosonde measurements at geographic high, middle, and low latitudes are analyzed with the occurrence of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in long term variability of the solar cycles. We observed trends of monthly maximum foF2 values and monthly averaged values of CME parameters such as speed, angular width, mass, and kinetic energy with respect to time. The impact of CMEs on foF2 is very high at high latitudes and low at low latitudes. The time series for monthly maximum foF2 and monthly-averaged CME speed are moderately correlated at high and middle latitudes.

Several models of the solar luminosity, , in the evolutionary timescale, have been computed as a function of time. However, the solar mass-loss, , is one of the drivers of variation in this timescale. The purpose of this study is to model mass-loss varying solar luminosity, , and to predict the luminosity variation before it leaves the main sequence. We numerically computed the up to 4.9 Gyrs from now. We used the solution to compute the modeled . We then validated our model with the current solar standard model (SSM). The shows consistency up to 8 Gyrs. At about 8.85 Gyrs, the Sun loses 28% of its mass and its luminosity increased to 2.2. The model suggests that the total main sequence lifetime is nearly 9 Gyrs. The model explains well the stage at which the Sun exhausts its central supply of hydrogen and when it will be ready to leave the main sequence. It may also explain the fate of the Sun by making some improvements in comparison to previous models.

A new metric tensor proposed by Howusu is presented. Problems associated with the metric tensor are pointed out. Some of the good aspects of the Howusu Metric are also outlined. It is argued that Howusu Metric holds some promise in generating healthy academic debate.

A summary in a timeline of astronomy developments over the past several decades and listing major achievements and current work will be presented.

As a pulsating star moves in its binary orbit, the path length of the light between us and the star varies, leading to the periodic variation in the arrival time of the signal from the star to us (earth). With the consideration of pulsators light arrival time delay effects several new methods which allows using Kepler photometric data (light curves) alone to find binary stars have been recently developed. Among these modern techniques we used binarogram method and we identified that several δSct pulsating stars have companions. The application of these method on detecting long periods(i.e. longer than about 50 d) δSct pulsating stars is not new, but the uniqueness of this study is we verified that it is also applicable to detect and determine the orbital elements of short periods (i.e short orbital period) δSct pulsating stars. With this investigation, we identified the possible way to overcome effects of fictious peaks, even, on the maximum peaks helpful to verify weather the star has companion or not depend up on the existence of the time-delay. Then, we applied the technique on known binary stars and their orbital elements are previously published. Finally, we identified some new short orbital period δSct pulsating stars and obtained their orbital frequency and period with the same procedures. Because of with our attempts we succeeded and verified the applicability of the method (the Binarogram method) on these stars (i.e short orbital period) for the first time, we expect that our present study will play a great role for similar study and to improve our binary statistics.

The angular resolution and the sensitivity of a parabolic dish telescope increase with the diameter of its aperture at a given frequency. This implies that as the telescope gets larger, its resolution becomes better. However, constructing telescopes of ever increasing size is prohibitive for both technical and financial reasons. This problem is solved by using an interferometer which consists of two or more separate telescopes that combine their signals offering a resolution equivalent to the largest separation distance between the telescopes. In this work, the electric field variations from two telescopes will be obtained. The voltage signals from the two telescopes will be coherently combined in order to derive the structure of the target source of radio emission. This combination will be done by a cross-correlator, which multiplies and averages the voltage outputs V1 and V2 of the two dishes. A major challenge to be addressed in this work is to design an instrument capable of making professional-type radio astronomy measurement in a local interference environment. In this regard, the investigative part of this work will verify whether it is possible to achieve a high sensitivity enough to detect some cosmic sources where the presence of man-made interference and cost adversely influences the system. The design of an interferometer will be presented and implemented. It may also serve as a demonstrator for engineering students to gain a working knowledge of radio interferometry.

A method of treating electron-proton interaction is presented. The energies involved in the interaction are estimated. Only elastic collisions are considered. The cross sections of the processes are not taken into account. Calculations are carried out in the centre of mass frame. Relevant quantities are transformed into the laboratory frame. Results indicate that the energy per collision gained by an electron ranges from 0.5 MeV to 0.6 MeV, under suitable conditions.