We have observed the G23 field of the Galaxy AndMass Assembly (GAMA) survey using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) in its commissioning phase to validate the performance of the telescope and to characterise the detected galaxy populations. This observation covers ~48 deg2 with synthesised beam of 32.7 arcsec by 17.8 arcsec at 936MHz, and ~39 deg2 with synthesised beam of 15.8 arcsec by 12.0 arcsec at 1320MHz. At both frequencies, the root-mean-square (r.m.s.) noise is ~0.1 mJy/beam. We combine these radio observations with the GAMA galaxy data, which includes spectroscopy of galaxies that are i-band selected with a magnitude limit of 19.2. Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) infrared (IR) photometry is used to determine which galaxies host an active galactic nucleus (AGN). In properties including source counts, mass distributions, and IR versus radio luminosity relation, the ASKAP-detected radio sources behave as expected. Radio galaxies have higher stellar mass and luminosity in IR, optical, and UV than other galaxies. We apply optical and IR AGN diagnostics and find that they disagree for ~30% of the galaxies in our sample. We suggest possible causes for the disagreement. Some cases can be explained by optical extinction of the AGN, but for more than half of the cases we do not find a clear explanation. Radio sources aremore likely (~6%) to have an AGN than radio quiet galaxies (~1%), but the majority of AGN are not detected in radio at this sensitivity.

Synthesis maps of stellar OH maser emission have revealed that the OH lies in expanding spherical shells typically about 1016 cm in diameter. From the maps and the expansion velocity, derived from the OH spectrum, stellar mass loss rates may be determined. Typical values are 10−5 M⊙/yr. An important application of the stellar OH masers is in the estimation of stellar distances.

Progress on the Australia Telescope, due for commissioning in 1988, is on schedule. When complete, the Australia Telescope will consist of a 6-km compact array and a Long Baseline Array which will, in collaboration with the University of Tasmania and NASA, use baselines up to 1400 km. Here I focus on the novel features of the Long Baseline Array, which is planned to use satellite linked local oscillators and VLBA data acquisition terminals to provide a VLBI network capable of expansion both within Australia and overseas.

The Parkes - Tidbinbilla Interferometer is a radio-linked interferometer using the 64-m telescope at Parkes together with one of the NASA antennas (34-m or 64-m) at Tidbinbilla. With a baseline of 275km, it is currently the world's longest real-time interferometer, and is usable at frequencies of 1.6, 2.3, and 8.4 GHz to give angular resolutions of 0.13, 0.09, and 0.03 arcsec respectively, with a sensitivity of 1–2 mJy rms in 5 minutes at a bandwidth of up to 10MHz.

A prompt radio burst has been observed from the supernova 1987a in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Observations were made at 0.843, 1.415, 2.29, and 8.41 GHz. At frequencies around 1 GHz, the peak flux density reached about 150 mJy and occurred within four days of the supernova. This event may be a weak precursor to a major radio outburst of the type previously observed in other extragalactic supernovae. Radio monitoring of the supernova is continuing at each of the above frequencies, and coordination is underway of a southern hemisphere VLBI array to map the radio outburst region as it expands. Differential astrometry carried out on prime-focus plates taken with the Anglo-Australian telescope indicates that the component, star 1, of Sanduleak's star SK-69202 is within 0.05 ± 0.13 arcsec of the supernova.

Africa is experiencing a rapid increase in adult obesity and associated cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs). The H3Africa AWI-Gen Collaborative Centre was established to examine genomic and environmental factors that influence body composition, body fat distribution and CMD risk, with the aim to provide insights towards effective treatment and intervention strategies. It provides a research platform of over 10 500 participants, 40–60 years old, from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. Following a process that involved community engagement, training of project staff and participant informed consent, participants were administered detailed questionnaires, anthropometric measurements were taken and biospecimens collected. This generated a wealth of demographic, health history, environmental, behavioural and biomarker data. The H3Africa SNP array will be used for genome-wide association studies. AWI-Gen is building capacity to perform large epidemiological, genomic and epigenomic studies across several African counties and strives to become a valuable resource for research collaborations in Africa.

We describe the performance of the Boolardy Engineering Test Array, the prototype for the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope. Boolardy Engineering Test Array is the first aperture synthesis radio telescope to use phased array feed technology, giving it the ability to electronically form up to nine dual-polarisation beams. We report the methods developed for forming and measuring the beams, and the adaptations that have been made to the traditional calibration and imaging procedures in order to allow BETA to function as a multi-beam aperture synthesis telescope. We describe the commissioning of the instrument and present details of Boolardy Engineering Test Array’s performance: sensitivity, beam characteristics, polarimetric properties, and image quality. We summarise the astronomical science that it has produced and draw lessons from operating Boolardy Engineering Test Array that will be relevant to the commissioning and operation of the final Australian Square Kilometre Array Path telescope.

We discuss new observations of the starburst galaxy NGC 7552. From optical and near–infrared colour maps we find a red, dusty circumnuclear ring. High-resolution radio mapping from the ATCA reveals the same ring, and a number of bright blobs (probably SNRs). The ring is probably associated with gas and dust which have lost angular momenta due to torques in the bar potential and settled at the inner Lindblad resonance. These circumnuclear starburst rings may be relatively common (when mapped without the obscuring affects of dust) and may play a role in collimating material of a nuclear outflow.

The Southern Hemisphere VLBI Experiment (SHEVE) program is aimed at producing high-resolution images of southern radio sources. The radio telescopes of the present SHEVE array are described below and some recent results presented.

Activity in galaxies takes on a bewildering array of guises. Not all of this diversity comes from fundamentally diverse physics, but if we can understand the relationships between different types of galaxy then we may be able to perceive the underlying physics. This taxonomic approach aims to determine which properties are common to several types of galaxy, and which properties differ. The danger in this process is that it is easy to invent spurious relationships between similar, but quite distinct, types of object.

We report the development of a radio-linked interferometer which uses the 64-m telescope at Parkes, NSW, and one of the NASA antennas (64-m or 34-m) at Tidbinbilla, ACT. With a baseline of approximately 275 km, this is the world’s longest real-time interferometer; it will be usable at frequencies of 1.6, 2.3, 8.4, and 22 GHz to give angular resolutions of 0.13, 0.09, 0.03, and 0.01 arcsec respectively. The interferometer has already operated successfully in a limited mode and is expected to become fully operational in its initial configuration by September 1985. Operation at a range of frequencies and with progressive enhancements is planned up to the commissioning of the Australia Telescope in 1988.

Although only three antennas of the Australia Telescope Compact Array are currently operational, we have made use of the technique of bandwidth synthesis to make an image of the radio galaxy 2152 – 69. The three baselines were used to observe the source at three different frequencies, effectively resulting in nine baselines, which have been used to produce an image with a surprisingly high dynamic range, and with a slightly higher resolution than any existing image.

The production of such a worthwhile result, despite being made with a small subset of the capabilities of the Australia Telescope, bodes well for the future operation of the instrument.

Over the last two decades there has been an accumulation of exciting evidence that appears to show that, as early as 5000 years ago, people in Britain were making precise observations of the Sun, Moon, and stars, and studying small perturbations in the lunar motion. Structures such as Stonehenge, and the s thousands of other megalithic sites in Britain, are then seen as prehistoric observations. Within these, data would be (accumulated to enable the prediction of celestial phenomena such as eclipses, and allow the construction of a calendar. Recently however a small number of rigorous statistical studies of the sites have cast doubt on the astronomical hypotheses, and have posed the question of whether some of the support for these hypotheses has been generated by well-intentioned but over-enthusiastic selections of chance alignments. In this review, the arguments and counter arguments are presented and examined, and we see what can be salvaged from the astronomical hypotheses after the statistical smoke has cleared.

A sensitive search has been made for OH maser emission from a sample of 16 symbiotic stars. This sample has been selected on the basis of infrared optical depth and variability, so that the stars within it have circumstellar shells similar to those seen in the well-known OH/IR and OH/Mira stars. There were no significant detections, except for one unassociated background source, and we conclude that the presence of a hot binary companion inhibits any possible OH maser action.

The 1665 and 1667 MHz OH intensity towards Halley’s comet has been monitored during the period October 1985 to April 1986. The flux density variation during the course of the apparition roughly follows the predictions of Schloerb and Gerard (1985), although we find a systematically lower flux than they predicted. The relative intensities of these lines are approximately in the ratio expected for thermodynamic equilibrium.

We have detected OH maser radiation from the comet Giacobini-Zinner using the Parkes radio telescope. The emission was detected in two transitions of the ground state of OH, at an intensity consistent with the predicted OH molecular production rate. We also searched unsuccessfully for OH emission from comet Halley, from which we are able to place a significant upper limit on the intensity of OH emission.

During 1990 we surveyed the southern sky using a multi-beam receiver at frequencies of 4850 and 843 MHz. The half-power beamwidths were 4 and 25 arcmin respectively. The finished surveys cover the declination range between +10 and −90 degrees declination, essentially complete in right ascension, an area of 7.30 steradians. Preliminary analysis of the 4850 MHz data indicates that we will achieve a five sigma flux density limit of about 30 mJy. We estimate that we will find between 80 000 and 90 000 new sources above this limit. This is a revised version of the paper presented at the Regional Meeting by the first four authors; the surveys now have been completed.

We have successfully demonstrated optical aperture synthesis at the 4-m Anglo-Australian Telescope. By using a multi-hole mask over the (re-imaged) primary mirror and recording the resulting fringe patterns with high time resolution, diffraction-limited images of sufficiently bright objects can be reconstructed. The data processing uses closure phases to overcome the effects of atmospheric turbulence. We show an image of the double star η Oph, with component separation 0″.45.