In the astrophysical context, where the effects of a magnetic field on stellar convective processes have to be taken into account, we have ϰ > > η > > ν (Weiss 1977) where ϰ, η and ν are respectively the thermal, magnetic and viscous diffusivities.

The proposal that the complex spectral line changes seen in the large amplitude β Cephei variable BW Vul resulted from a shock effect, driven by an underlying radial pulsation, was first made by Odgers (1955). Stamford and Watson (1978) examined some suitable atmospheric models for this star, which were driven by a hard subphotospheric piston under an isothermal assumption. These models displayed strong shock development and had some encouraging similarities with the BW Vul phenomenon. However, particularly because of the use of a hard piston, they were not very physically realistic. Here we discuss the results of a more sophisticated approach to this modelling problem. This modelling problem is of specific current importance because Odell’s (1981) recent observations of a variable polarization in BW Vul have renewed the debate over possible nonradial pulsations in this star. Since nonlinear effects are clearly substantial in BW Vul, it is evident that the implications of these on the observed spectral line changes should be carefully examined on a radial pulsation hypothesis, before turning to the complexities of nonlinear nonradial profile modelling.

The nearest star α Centauri is a triple system. The star α Cen, one of the pointers to the Southern Cross, is itself a −0.3 mag visual binary consisting of a α Cen A, a G2V star popularly considered to resemble the Sun, and α Cen B, a KOV star. The orbital period is 80.089 years, the semimajor axis is 23.5 AU, the distance 1.34 pc, the masses are 1.11 and 0.92 (±0.03) M⊙ (Kamper & Wesselink 1977). The third star, Proxima Cen (V645 Cen) is a faint common proper-motion companion separated from α Cen AB by about 2°. It is known to most people only by virtue of being slightly closer to the Sun than is α Cen A, and therefore actually the closest star.. This 11th mag flare star is undoubtedly coeval with a α Cen AB, but being the least massive by a considerable margin, may have been ejected from the system shortly after formation.

The cyclotron line in Her X-1 is a hard X-ray feature at ≈ 58 keV discovered by Trümper et al. (1977). A cyclotron emission line at about this energy had been predicted by Gnedin and Sunyaev (1974) and Basko and Sunyaev (1975). They developed a model for the infall of accreted matter onto a magnetized neutron star’s surface, and concluded that hot spots would form at the polar caps and radiate X-rays. They predicted that the optional depth for bremsstrahlung would be less than unity, that for Compton scattering greater than unity and that for cyclotron absorption much greater than unity. A cyclotron line is then implied due to the emission spectrum lying below the black-body spectrum except near the cyclotron energy where it rises up to the black-body limit. More recent developments of these background ideas have been reviewed by Börner (1980).

I shall outline the physical principles on which I believe pulsar magnetosphere models should be based. The principles follow from the equations of continuity and motion for each species and the two sourceless members of Maxwell’s set of equations, together with the steady-rotation constraint and boundary conditions at the stellar surface.

The pulsar 0833-45 associated with the Vela supernova remnant has been known as a strong source with fairly constant pulse amplitude since its discovery (Large, Vaughan & Mills 1968) using the east-west arm of the Molonglo telescope. The pulse stability together with the short period of 89 ms allowed its integrated flux to be seen also as a 1.7 Jy point source with the pencil beam of the full Cross, and a more precise declination was obtained. Further observations in 1971/72 with a beat period integrator used on the fan beams of the north-south arm showed that the pulsed radiation had the same declination as the point source within 2 arcsec (Vaughan & McAdam 1973). Monitoring observations in 1975/76 gave an independent position, and the mean of all Molonglo (408 MHz), Fleurs (1415 MHz) and NRAO interferometer (2700 MHz) positions led to the optical detection of the pulsar (Goss et al. 1977). The point source, therefore, is reliably identified with the pulsar.

Ground-based observations of Jupiter’s decametric radio emission (DAM) have been reviewed by Ellis (1965), Warwick (1967, 1970) and Carr and Gulkis (1969). A startling feature of DAM is the modulating effect of Io, and interpretation of the Io effect has dominated theoretical discussions of DAM until quite recently, specifically until the fly-by s of Voyagers 1 and 2. The Voyager data showed that the DAM appears as nested arcs in the frequency-Jovian longitude plane (Warwick et al. 1979, Boischot et al. 1981). The interpretation of this arc structure has been of primary theoretical interest over the past two years. The most widely adopted explanation is that the emission from each point is confined to the surface of a hollow cone (Goldstein and Thieman 1981). This idea is not new: emission on the surface of a cone was discussed by Ellis and McCulloch (1963); Dulk (1967) derived detailed parameters for the cone (half angle 79° width 1°) from the occurrence pattern of DAM; and Goldreich and Lynden-Bell (1969) presented a theoretical interpretation of it. More recently Goldstein et al. (1979) used observational data on the Jovian magnetic field in deriving properties of the required emission cone. It seems that one requires the properties of the emission cone to vary with position in the Jovian magnetosphere to account for the nested arc pattern (Goldstein and Thieman 1981; Gurnett and Goertz 1981).

The aggregation of a large number of planetesimals into a single body is a problem that has proved to be a stumbling block for many theories of planetary formation. This difficulty has mainly arisen because of the tendency of an orbiting stream of bodies to disperse over the equatorial plane as a result of the combined effects of collisions and gravitational interactions (Trulsen 1972; Brahic 1975). Once such a chaotic distribution of orbiting bodies has developed, it is extremely difficult for these bodies to subsequently accumulate into a single entity. This problem does not arise, however, when aggregation takes place within a differentially rotating gaseous ring as proposed by Prentice (1978). It has been shown previously (Hourigan 1977) that the gas drag overcomes the disruptive nature of collisional interactions, resulting in the formation of a thin concentrated torus of orbiting bodies.

The discrepancy between the observed and predicted flux of neutrinos from the Sun is well known. Past attempts at reconciling this difference have been unconvincing (Kuchowicz 1976, Rood 1978), and hence investigations in this area continue.

Solar metre-wave noise storms commonly show continuum and short-lived narrow-band bursts (Type I) at high frequencies and fast-drift bursts (Type III) at low frequencies (Malville 1962; Hanasz 1966; Boischot et al. 1970; Moller-Pedersen 1974; see also Figs. 2-3 of this paper). The Type I and Type III emissions have the same sense of polarization (Komesaroff 1958; Suzuki 1978). Impressed by this spectral association, Malville (1962) and Boischot et al. (1970) suggested that the two types of emission might be excited by the same electron stream. However, Type I emission is associated with sunspots and strong photospheric magnetic fields (McCready et al. 1947; Payne-Scott and Little 1951; Le Squeren 1963) and for this reason Kai (1970) suggested that Type I emission arises on strong closed magnetic loops. Type III emission, by contrast, almost certainly arises on open or quasi-open (large-loop) magnetic field lines (Wild et al. 1959, 1963). Thus on these models one would expect Type I and Type III emissions to arise from different magnetic regimes and different areas of the Sun. Kai’s (1970) and Stewart and Labrum’s (1972) Culgoora radioheliograph observations, which suggested that Type I and Type III sources are always separated on the Sun, seemed to clinch the matter. Kai’s model and his statement ‘Type III sources avoid the precise location of Type I storm centres’ gained wide acceptance (e.g. Boischot et al. 1971; Elgaroy 1977; Stewart 1977).

Two outstanding problems in the interpretation of OH masers are their narrow linewidths, and the rare occurrence of Zeeman pairs (Reid and Moran 1981). On discovery, the narrow but intense features of OH sources suggested unsaturated maser action (Perkins et al 1966). However the features are often so bright that saturation must be involved, and in saturated growth the features should rebroaden to about the thermal width (Goldreich and Kwan 1974). This is not observed (Reid and Moran 1981).

In the terrestrial environment the abundance ratio of 18O to the common oxygen isotope 16O is about 1 in 490. Measurements of hydroxyl absorption in the interstellar medium show that 18OH as well as 16OH can be detected towards Sgr A and Sgr B2 (Gardner et al. 1970; Wilson and Barrett 1970; Williams and Gardner 1981); in these two galactic centre regions the 18OH isotopic species has an abundance relative to 16OH of about 1 in 220, somewhat greater than the terrestrial ratio of 18O to 16O.

The complex consisting of the bright HII region M17 (G15.0-0.7) and its associated molecular cloud is well known as a region of active star formation which contains an abundance of many different molecules (see e.g. Lada 1976). For H2CO, observations of the 110 – 111 transition at 4.8 GHz towards the HII region show an intense narrow absorption feature with a radial velocity near + 24 km s−1 superimposed on weak absorption which extends to below +10 km s−1 (Whiteoak and Gardner 1970). According to Whiteoak and Gardner (1974) the latter consists of several features centred at the velocities of +4.7, + 10.4, + 17.9 and +20.3 km s−1. Lada and Chaisson (1975) mapped the absorption around M17 with a 6′ .5 arc beam and concluded that the broad component was associated with the obscuring dust cloud near the HII region while the narrow feature occurred in a foreground cloud. In this paper we present observations made with higher angular resolution and higher sensitivity; they define better the H2CO distribution and its relationship with the extended CO cloud near M17 (Elmegreen et al. 1979).

Millimetre-wave emission from the CO molecule has proven to be an extremely useful probe of the cold, dense clouds of molecular hydrogen in the Galaxy. Previous studies of the large-scale distribution of CO in the galactic plane (Scoville and Solomon 1975; Burton et al. 1975; Bash and Peters 1976; Burton and Gordon 1978; Solomon et al. 1979b; Cohen et al. 1980) have all been of the northern hemisphere and primarily at longitudes 0° ≤ l ≥ 80°. These studies have revealed the striking characteristic that the CO, and by implication molecular hydrogen clouds, are concentrated in a ring extending from 4 to 8 kpc from the galactic centre. This is in sharp contrast to the atomic hydrogen distribution, which is fairly constant over the extended region from 4 to 13 kpc but correlates well with other Population I indicators.

Coronae Austrinae is one of the few star formation areas lying well away from the galactic plane (l = 360°, b = −17°) and is visible predominantly from the Southern Hemisphere.

Ammonia was searched in the direction of 46 sources placed in the southern hemisphere where H2CO or H2O was detected previously. Observations were carried out at Itapetinga Radio Observatory, Atibaia, Brazil using a 13.7 m paraboloid. The receiver used for these observations had a K-band ruby travelling wave maser as a preamplifier and the system temperature ranged from 250 to 300K. All sources were observed at least twice, each observation lasting for 30 minutes. The filter bank used consisted of 47 contiguous channels with 100 kHz bandwidth. Results are presented on Table 1 — Positive results and Table 2 — Negative results.

In 1975, Hoessel, Elias, Wade and Huchra commenced a near infrared survey of 80 fields in the northern Milky Way with the Palomar 1.2 m Schmidt telescope, (Hoessel et al. 1979). This has now been issued as an atlas reproduced in the form of photographic paper prints. In 1977, the SRC 1.2 m Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring was authorized to commence a complementary survey of the southern Milky Way, consisting of the 151 ESO/SRC survey fields which have centres within 10° of the galactic plane and negative declinations (see Fig. 1). A further 12 fields have subsequently been added to the survey to permit coverage of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

The University of Wollongong operates an 18-inch telescope located on the escarpment behind Wollongong. The greatest contribution from a telescope of this size is gained by photoelectric observations which larger telescopes often do not undertake because they are time consuming. In addition such observations require ‘photometric weather’. The sky in Wollongong is ‘photometric’ often enough to support a viable programme. However, it is vital that the telescope (and its instruments) works quickly and efficiently to utilise the fine periods.

Since its introduction by Högbom (1974), ‘clean’ has been widely used to restore images from the aperture synthesis techniques of radio astronomy. The method iteratively subtracts from the maximum deflection of the image the point source response and so deconvolves it with some loop gain;

where yn = residue image.

xn = deconvolving beam derived by matching the peak of the beam to where yn has the maximum deflection and band-limiting the size of beam within the image,

An = a scalar in accordance with the loop gain applied to the residue image, and

n = iteration.

Ideally, the residue image converges to noise level. In digital processing, the method is implemented with special purpose hardware, general purpose computer, or array processor. In all cases the image to be restored (the ‘dirty’ map), the space-invariant beam used to deconvolve the image (the ‘dirty’ antenna pattern) and the loop gain are stored in binary format in memories and registers with finite wordlength. (Wordlength is an economic factor both in hardware and software implementations).

Carbon monoxide (12CO) interstellar clouds are widely distributed while clouds of 13CO, HCN, CS and HCO+ are generally more compact. Additionally the molecular lines of the former species tend to be more intense than that of the latter. High resolution and high sensitivity maps of interesting interstellar clouds are, at present, time consuming when a single beam telescope is used. Multiple beam telescopes are therefore required to undertake these mapping tasks during the periods when the precipitable water vapour content of the atmosphere is low; for sites near sea level these periods can be short.