There have been many advances in radio astronomy during the last three years, and a sample of these are highlighted in the following Report. The coverage of all facets of radio astronomy is certainly not uniform, because much of the text has been provided as voluntary contributions by Commission 40 members, and the finished report will therefore be weighted according to individual interests. Nevertheless, hopefully this Report will show the enormous scope of today’s radio astronomy, and reflect some of the excitement of the latest findings.

Carol Lonsdale, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology/JPL, Pasadena, CA, USA

During the triennium, Commission 6 continued to interact with the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) under the very effective directorship of Brian Marsden. A widening of the associated astronomical subjects recorded in the IAU Circulars was noted. There is no doubt that these Circulars continue to play an important role for the fast dissemination of astronomical information. The trend towards a preference for electronic distribution by the recipients cannot be overlooked.

Since the last report, Commission 7 has supported IAU Symposium No. 172 “Dynamics, Ephemerides and Astrometry of the Solar System” (Paris, 1995) and co-supported IAU Colloquium No. 165 “Dynamics and Astrometry of Natural and Artificial Celestial Bodies” (Poznari, Poland, July 1996). During the 22nd General Assembly (The Hague, 1994), the Commission co-supported the joint discussions “Time scales: state of the art” and “Nutations” as well as the working group meeting “Near-Earth Objects Detection”.

The membership of the Commission stands, with the election of 18 IAU members and 12 historians at the XXII GA (1994), at 155 presently (Sept. 1996). Note the increase in membership, which is 24% and which hopefully may go to 30-35% by XXIII GA (1997). The Commission has put a message on WWW for all IAU members/presidents of various commissions to join the Commission 41 in a big way, so that it can extend its scope of activities further. Besides holding a Joint Discussion of its own (No. 17), Commission 41 is co-supporting JDs 8, 20 and 23.