We describe a method for reducing displacements in radio source positions caused by ionospheric refraction. Our method is an improvement on that used by Wild et al. (1959), who assumed all frequencies in the 40-70 MHz band came from the same position above the Sun and applied an f-2 correction for ionospheric refraction. Our method retains the dispersion of source position with frequency, which is inherent in the radio source, but allows for the f-2 ionospheric effect. We also discuss ways of estimating the absolute source positions from a knowledge of ionospheric density gradients. A typical example of ionospheric variations on solar records is shown in Figure 1(a). Here we have plotted the observed source positions on an f-2 scale. The measurements refer to a solar storm continuum burst which occurred on 1981 May 9 following an importance 2B flare at 08°N., 38°E., heliographic coordinates. From previous observations of such events we think it highly likely that the true source positions are stationary and displaced with decreasing frequency outwards along a line close to the radial direction above the flare. Figure 1(a) shows that: (a) the 160, 80 and 43 MHz source displacements vary as f-2; (b) there is a systematic slow drift of the source positions towards the south and east which increases with increasing hour angle; (c) superimposed on this steady drift is a quasi-periodic variation in source position with a period ~20 min.

Orphan Afterglows (OA) are slow transients produced by Gamma Ray Bursts seen off–axis that become visible on timescales of days/years at optical/NIR and radio frequencies, when the prompt emission at high energies (X and γ rays) has already ceased. Given the typically estimated jet opening angle of GRBs θjet ~ 3°, for each burst pointing to the Earth there should be a factor ~ 700 more GRBs pointing in other directions. Despite this, no secure OAs have been detected so far. Through a population synthesis code we study the emission properties of the population of OA at radio frequencies. OAs reach their emission peak on year-timescales and they last for a comparable amount of time. The typical peak fluxes (which depend on the observing frequency) are of few μJy in the radio band with only a few OA reaching the mJy level. These values are consistent with the upper limits on the radio flux of SN Ib/c observed at late times. We find that the OA radio number count distribution has a typical slope − 1.7 at high fluxes and a flatter ( − 0.4) slope at low fluxes with a break at a frequency–dependent flux. Our predictions of the OA rates are consistent with the (upper) limits of recent radio surveys and archive searches for radio transients. Future radio surveys like VAST/ASKAP at 1.4 GHz should detect ~ 3 × 10− 3 OA deg− 2 yr− 1, MeerKAT and EVLA at 8.4 GHz should see ~ 3 × 10− 1 OA deg− 2 yr− 1. The SKA, reaching the μJy flux limit, could see up to ~ 0.2 − 1.5 OA deg− 2 yr− 1. These rates also depend on the duration of the OA above a certain flux limit and we discuss this effect with respect to the survey cadence.

We present the results of a programme of scanning and mapping observations of astronomical masers and Jupiter designed to characterise the performance of the Mopra Radio Telescope at frequencies between 16 and 50 GHz using the 12-mm and 7-mm receivers. We use these observations to determine the telescope beam size, beam shape, and overall telescope beam efficiency as a function of frequency. We find that the beam size is well fit by λ/D over the frequency range with a correlation coefficient of ∼90%. We determine the telescope main beam efficiencies are between ∼48 and 64% for the 12-mm receiver and reasonably flat at ∼50% for the 7-mm receiver. Beam maps of strong H2O (22 GHz) and SiO masers (43 GHz) provide a means to examine the radial beam pattern of the telescope. At both frequencies, the radial beam pattern reveals the presence of three components: a central ‘core’, which is well fit by a Gaussian and constitutes the telescopes main beam; and inner and outer error beams. At both frequencies, the inner and outer error beams extend out to ∼2 and ∼3.4 times the full-width half maximum of the main beam, respectively. Sources with angular sizes of a factor of two or more larger than the telescope main beam will couple to the main and error beams, and therefore the power contributed by the error beams needs to be considered. From measurements of the radial beam power pattern we estimate the amount of power contained in the inner and outer error beams is of order one-fifth at 22 GHz, rising slightly to one-third at 43 GHz.

The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) is being used to undertake a campaign to rapidly survey the sky in three frequency bands across its operational spectral range. The first pass of the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) at 887.5 MHz in the low band has already been completed, with images, visibility datasets, and catalogues made available to the wider astronomical community through the CSIRO ASKAP Science Data Archive (CASDA). This work presents details of the second observing pass in the mid band at 1367.5 MHz, RACS-mid, and associated data release comprising images and visibility datasets covering the whole sky south of $\delta_{\text{J2000}}=+49^\circ$. This data release incorporates selective peeling to reduce artefacts around bright sources, as well as accurately modelled primary beam responses. The Stokes I images reach a median noise of 198 $\mu$Jy PSF$^{-1}$ with a declination-dependent angular resolution of 8.1–47.5 arcsec that fills a niche in the existing ecosystem of large-area astronomical surveys. We also supply Stokes V images after application of a widefield leakage correction, with a median noise of 165 $\mu$Jy PSF$^{-1}$. We find the residual leakage of Stokes I into V to be $\lesssim 0.9$–$2.4$% over the survey. This initial RACS-mid data release will be complemented by a future release comprising catalogues of the survey region. As with other RACS data releases, data products from this release will be made available through CASDA.

For decades, the deceptive simplicity of the radius $R_{\rm e}$, enclosing an arbitrary 50% of a galaxy’s light, has hamstrung the understanding of early-type galaxies (ETGs). Half a century ago, using these ‘effective half-light’ radii from de Vaucouleurs’ $R^{1/4}$ model, Sérsic reported that bright ETGs follow the relation $\mathfrak{M}_B\propto2.5\log R_{\rm e}$; and consequently, one has that $\langle\mu\rangle_{\rm e}\propto2.5\log R_{\rm e}$ and $\mu_{\rm e}\propto2.5\log R_{\rm e}$, where $\mu_{\rm e}$ and $\langle\mu\rangle_{\rm e}$ are the effective surface brightness at $R_{\rm e}$ and the mean effective surface brightness within $R_{\rm e}$, respectively. Sérsic additionally observed an apparent transition which led him to advocate for a division between what he called dwarf and giant ETGs; a belief frequently restated to occur at $\mathfrak{M}_B \approx -18$ mag or $n\approx 2.5$. Here, the location of this false dichotomy in diagrams using ‘effective’ parameters is shown to change by more than 3 mag simply depending on the arbitrary percentage of light used to quantify a galaxy’s size. A range of alternative radii are explored, including where the projected intensity has dropped by a fixed percentage plus a battery of internal radii, further revealing that the transition at $\mathfrak{M}_B\approx -18$ mag is artificial and does not demark a boundary between different physical processes operating on the ETG population.

The above understanding surrounding the effective radius $R_{\rm e}$ is of further importance because quantities such as dynamical mass $\sigma^2R/G$, gravitational-binding energy $GM^2/R$, acceleration $GM/R^2$, and the ‘Fundamental Plane’ also depend on the arbitrary percentage of light used to define R, with implications for dark matter estimates, galaxy formation theories, compact massive galaxies, studies of peculiar velocity flows, and more. Finally, some of the vast literature which has advocated for segregating the ETG population at $\mathfrak{M}_B \approx -18$ mag ($M\approx1$–$2\times10^{10}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$) is addressed, and it is revealed how this pervasive mindset has spilled over to influence both the classical bulge versus pseudobulge debate and recently also correlations involving supermassive black hole masses.

The second epoch Molonglo Galactic Plane Survey covers the area 245° ⩽ l ⩽ 365° and |b| ⩽ 10° at a frequency of 843 MHz and an angular resolution of 45 arcsec × 45 arcsec cosec(δ). The sensitivity varies between 1–2 mJy beam− 1 depending on the presence of strong extended sources. This survey is currently the highest resolution and most sensitive large-scale continuum survey of the southern Galactic plane. In this paper, we present the images of the complete survey, including postage stamps of some new supernova remnant (SNR) candidates and a discussion of the highly structured features detected in the interstellar medium. The intersection of these two types of features is discussed in the context of the ‘missing’ SNR population in the Galaxy.

We present evidence to show that changes in the Sun's equatorial rotation rate are synchronized with changes in its orbital motion about the barycentre of the Solar System. We propose that this synchronization is indicative of a spin–orbit coupling mechanism operating between the Jovian planets and the Sun. However, we are unable to suggest a plausible underlying physical cause for the coupling. Some researchers have proposed that it is the period of the meridional flow in the convective zone of the Sun that controls both the duration and strength of the Solar cycle. We postulate that the overall period of the meridional flow is set by the level of disruption to the flow that is caused by changes in Sun's equatorial rotation speed. Based on our claim that changes in the Sun's equatorial rotation rate are synchronized with changes in the Sun's orbital motion about the barycentre, we propose that the mean period for the Sun's meridional flow is set by a Synodic resonance between the flow period (∼22.3 yr), the overall 178.7-yr repetition period for the solar orbital motion, and the 19.86-yr synodic period of Jupiter and Saturn.

We describe a new low-frequency wideband radio survey of the southern sky. Observations covering 72–231 MHz and Declinations south of $+30^\circ$ have been performed with the Murchison Widefield Array “extended” Phase II configuration over 2018–2020 and will be processed to form data products including continuum and polarisation images and mosaics, multi-frequency catalogues, transient search data, and ionospheric measurements. From a pilot field described in this work, we publish an initial data release covering 1,447 $\mathrm{deg}^2$ over $4\,\mathrm{h}\leq \mathrm{RA}\leq 13\,\mathrm{h}$ , $-32.7^\circ \leq \mathrm{Dec} \leq -20.7^\circ$ . We process twenty frequency bands sampling 72–231 MHz, with a resolution of 2′–45′′, and produce a wideband source-finding image across 170–231 MHz with a root mean square noise of $1.27\pm0.15\,\mathrm{mJy\,beam}^{-1}$ . Source-finding yields 78,967 components, of which 71,320 are fitted spectrally. The catalogue has a completeness of 98% at ${{\sim}}50\,\mathrm{mJy}$ , and a reliability of 98.2% at $5\sigma$ rising to 99.7% at $7\sigma$ . A catalogue is available from Vizier; images are made available via the PASA datastore, AAO Data Central, and SkyView. This is the first in a series of data releases from the GLEAM-X survey.

Studies of coronal transients observed in white-light (Gosling et al., 1976) have shown that fast-moving events (≤ 400 km s-1) are closely associated with flares and with type II and IV radio bursts while slow-moving events are not. We now report the first detection of the radio counterpart of a slow-moving transient. The event of 1974 January 21 is shown to be visible on maps of the quiet Sun made at a frequency of 80 MHz.

Second harmonic plasma emission is attributed to the coalescence of two Langmuir waves into a transverse wave.

We suggest and give some evidence that as an HII region expands and the O stars evolve into B giants, remains of the molecular clouds first appear as bright-rimmed clouds, then as cometary globules and finally as small clouds which are visible by the reflected light from the B giants. We propose to call the last of these ‘reflection clouds’ and all three categories collectively ‘remnant clouds’. A list is presented of about 80 objects of these remnant clouds in the Ori OB 1 association. In the Belt region there is a beautiful spatial sequence from bright-rimmed clouds through cometary globules to reflection clouds. We suspect that retarded star formation in remnant clouds can explain the presence of so-called dispersed T Tau stars in the peripheries of OB associations.

We used the data of 701 stars covering the colour index interval 0.32 < B − V ≤ 1.16, with metallicities −1.76 ≤ [Fe/H]≤+0.40 dex. The data were taken from the PASTEL catalogue and estimated metallicity-dependent guillotine factors, which provide a more accurate metallicity calibration. We reduced the metallicities of 11 different authors to the metallicities of Valenti & Fischer (2005), and thus obtained a homogeneous set of data which increased the accuracy of the calibration, i.e. [Fe/H]= −14.316δ20.6 − 3.557δ0.6+0.105. Comparison of the metallicity residuals for two sets of data based on the metallicity-dependent guillotine factors with the ones obtained via metal-free guillotine factors shows that metallicities estimated by means of the new guillotine factors are more accurate than the other ones. This advantage can be used in the metallicity gradient investigation of the Galactic components, i.e. thin disc, thick disc, and halo.

We have taken 88 dwarfs, covering the colour-index interval 0.37 ≤ (B–V)0 ≤ 1.07 mag, with metallicities –2.70 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ +0.26 dex, from three different sources for new metallicity calibration. The catalogue of Cayrel de Stroble et al. (2001), which includes 65% of the stars in our sample, supplies detailed information on abundances for stars with determination based on high-resolution spectroscopy. In constructing the new calibration we have used as ‘corner stones’ 77 stars which supply at least one of the following conditions: (i) the parallax is larger than 10 mas (distance relative to the Sun less than 100 pc) and the galactic latitude is absolutely higher than 30°; (ii) the parallax is rather large, if the galactic latitude is absolutely low and vice versa. Contrary to previous investigations, a third-degree polynomial is fitted for the new calibration: [Fe/H] = 0.10 – 2.76δ – 24.04δ2 + 30.00δ3. The coefficients were evaluated by the least-squares method, without regard to the metallicity of Hyades. However, the constant term is in the range of metallicity determined for this cluster, i.e. 0.08 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ 0.11 dex. The mean deviation and the mean error in our work are equal to those of Carney (1979), for [Fe/H] ≥ –1.75 dex where Carney's calibration is valid.

Recent advances in the knowledge of the evolutionary status of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and of the nucleosynthesis processes occurring in them are discussed, and used to interpret abundance determinations for s-process elements, lithium and CNO isotopes in several types of AGB stars. We focus our attention mainly on carbon-rich AGB stars. By combining these different constraints we conclude that most carbon stars in the solar neighborhood are of low mass (M≤3 M⊙), their abundances being a consequence of the operation of thermal pulses and the third dredge-up. However, the observed abundances in carbon stars of the R and J types cannot be explained by this standard scenario. These stars may not be on the AGB, but possibly in the core-He burning phases; their envelopes may have been polluted with nuclear ashes of the core-He flash, followed by CNO re-processing enhancing 13C. Observational evidence suggesting the operation of non-standard mixing mechanisms during the AGB phase is also discussed.

In this contribution, which is an expanded version of an invited lecture at the 1982 A.G.M. at Noosa Heads, the author recalls some of the early work in radio astronomy from Dover Heights.

How did the Galactic disk form and can the sequence of events ever be unravelled from the vast stellar inventory? This will require that some of the residual inhomogeneities from prehistory escaped the dissipative process at an early stage. Fossil hunting to date has concentrated mostly on the stellar halo, but a key source of information will be the thick disk. This is believed to be a ‘snap frozen’ relic which formed during or shortly after the last major epoch of dissipation, or it may have formed from infalling systems early in the life of the Galaxy. As part of the KAOS Galaxy Genesis project, we explore the early history of the halo and the thick disk by looking for discrete substructures, either due to infall or in situ star formation, through chemical tagging. This will require high signal-to-noise echelle spectroscopy of up to a million stars throughout the disk. Our program has a short-term and a long-term goal.

The short-term goal is to quantify the size and structure of the multi-dimensional chemical abundance space (C-space) for all major components of the Galaxy. We seek to establish how many axes in (C-space) are decoupled and have large intrinsic dispersions. A critical test of chemical tagging in the short term is that stellar streams in the halo, identified from detailed phase space information, are highly localised in (C-space), or are confined to chemical tracks. These trajectories presuppose that stars form in a closed box through progressive enrichments of the gas, leading to stars dispersed along a narrow track in a complex chemical space. The long-term goal is to identify unique chemical signatures in the thick disk, originating from different formation sites, for star clusters which have long since dispersed. This will require precise chemical abundances for heavy elements such that a star can be localised to a discrete point in (C-space). If the star clusters originally formed outside the Galaxy in a bound infalling system, the stellar abundances may fall along a chemical track, rather than a discrete point in (C-space).

We present a catalogue of the 322 damped Lyman alpha absorbers taken from the literature. All damped Lyman alpha absorbers are included, with no selection on redshift or quasar magnitude. Of these, 123 are candidates and await confirmation using high resolution spectroscopy. For all 322 objects we catalogue the radio properties of the background quasars, where known. Around 60 quasars have radio flux densities above 0.1 Jy and approximately half of these have optical magnitudes brighter than V = 18. This compilation should prove useful in several areas of extragalactic/cosmological research.

We summarise results from flux density monitoring campaigns performed with the 100 m radio telescope at Effelsberg and the VLA during the past 15 yrs. We briefly discuss some of the statistical properties from now more than 40 high declination sources (δ ≥ 30°), which show intraday variability (IDV). In general, IDV is more pronounced for sources with flat radio spectra and compact VLBI structures. For 0917+62, we present new VLBI images which suggest that the variability pattern is modified by the occurrence of new jet components. For 0716+71, we show the first detection of IDV at millimetre wavelengths (32 GHz). For the physical interpretation of the IDV phenomenon, a complex source and frequency dependent superposition of interstellar scintillation and source intrinsic variability should be considered.

Beam-driven Langmuir waves in the solar wind are generated just above the electron plasma frequency, which fluctuates in the inhomogeneous solar wind plasma. Consequently, propagating Langmuir waves encounter regions in which the wave frequency is less than the local plasma frequency, where they can be reflected, mode converted to transverse electromagnetic waves, and trapped in density wells. The aim here is to investigate Langmuir wave reflection and mode conversion at a linear density gradient for typical solar wind parameters. It is shown that higher mode conversion efficiencies are possible than previously calculated, but that mode conversion occurs in a smaller region of parameter space. In addition, the possibility of detecting mode conversion with in situ spacecraft Langmuir wave observations is discussed.

We provide the first in situ measurements of antenna element beam shapes of the Murchison Widefield Array. Most current processing pipelines use an assumed beam shape, which can cause absolute and relative flux density errors and polarisation ‘leakage’. Understanding the primary beam is then of paramount importance, especially for sensitive experiments such as a measurement of the 21-cm line from the epoch of reionisation, where the calibration requirements are so extreme that tile to tile beam variations may affect our ability to make a detection. Measuring the primary beam shape from visibilities is challenging, as multiple instrumental, atmospheric, and astrophysical factors contribute to uncertainties in the data. Building on the methods of Neben et al. [Radio Sci., 50, 614], we tap directly into the receiving elements of the telescope before any digitisation or correlation of the signal. Using ORBCOMM satellite passes we are able to produce all-sky maps for four separate tiles in the XX polarisation. We find good agreement with the beam model of Sokolowski et al. [2017, PASA, 34, e062], and clearly observe the effects of a missing dipole from a tile in one of our beam maps. We end by motivating and outlining additional on-site experiments.