The Taipan galaxy survey (hereafter simply ‘Taipan’) is a multi-object spectroscopic survey starting in 2017 that will cover 2π steradians over the southern sky (δ ≲ 10°, |b| ≳ 10°), and obtain optical spectra for about two million galaxies out to z < 0.4. Taipan will use the newly refurbished 1.2-m UK Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory with the new TAIPAN instrument, which includes an innovative ‘Starbugs’ positioning system capable of rapidly and simultaneously deploying up to 150 spectroscopic fibres (and up to 300 with a proposed upgrade) over the 6° diameter focal plane, and a purpose-built spectrograph operating in the range from 370 to 870 nm with resolving power R ≳ 2000. The main scientific goals of Taipan are (i) to measure the distance scale of the Universe (primarily governed by the local expansion rate, H0) to 1% precision, and the growth rate of structure to 5%; (ii) to make the most extensive map yet constructed of the total mass distribution and motions in the local Universe, using peculiar velocities based on improved Fundamental Plane distances, which will enable sensitive tests of gravitational physics; and (iii) to deliver a legacy sample of low-redshift galaxies as a unique laboratory for studying galaxy evolution as a function of dark matter halo and stellar mass and environment. The final survey, which will be completed within 5 yrs, will consist of a complete magnitude-limited sample (i ⩽ 17) of about 1.2 × 106 galaxies supplemented by an extension to higher redshifts and fainter magnitudes (i ⩽ 18.1) of a luminous red galaxy sample of about 0.8 × 106 galaxies. Observations and data processing will be carried out remotely and in a fully automated way, using a purpose-built automated ‘virtual observer’ software and an automated data reduction pipeline. The Taipan survey is deliberately designed to maximise its legacy value by complementing and enhancing current and planned surveys of the southern sky at wavelengths from the optical to the radio; it will become the primary redshift and optical spectroscopic reference catalogue for the local extragalactic Universe in the southern sky for the coming decade.

The 2MASS, UKIDSS-LAS, and VISTA VIKING surveys have all now observed the GAMA 9hr region in the Ks band. Here we compare the detection rates, photometry, basic size measurements, and single-component GALFIT structural measurements for a sample of 37 591 galaxies. We explore the sensitivity limits where the data agree for a variety of issues including: detection, star–galaxy separation, photometric measurements, size and ellipticity measurements, and Sérsic measurements. We find that 2MASS fails to detect at least 20% of the galaxy population within all magnitude bins, however for those that are detected we find photometry is robust (± 0.2 mag) to 14.7 AB mag and star–galaxy separation to 14.8 AB mag. For UKIDSS-LAS we find incompleteness starts to enter at a flux limit of 18.9 AB mag, star–galaxy separation is robust to 16.3 AB mag, and structural measurements are robust to 17.7 AB mag. VISTA VIKING data are complete to approximately 20.0 AB mag and structural measurements appear robust to 18.8 AB mag.

Given the growing use of Sérsic's (1963, 1968) R1/n model for describing the stellar distributions in galaxies, and the lack of any single reference that provides the various associated mathematical expressions, we have endeavoured to compile such a resource here. We present the standard intensity profile, and its various guises such as the luminosity, surface-brightness, and aperture–magnitude profile. Expressions to transform the effective surface brightness into the mean effective and central surface brightness are also given, as is the expression to transform between effective radii and exponential scale-lengths. We additionally provide expressions for deriving the ‘concentration’ of an R1/n profile, and two useful equations for the logarithmic slope of the light-profile are given. Petrosian radii and fluxes are also derived for a range of Sérsic profiles and compared with the effective radii and total flux. Similarly, expressions to obtain Kron radii and fluxes are presented as a function of the Sérsic index n and the number of effective radii sampled. Illustrative figures are provided throughout. Finally, the core–Sérsic model, consisting of an inner power-law and an outer Sérsic function, is presented.

The Galaxy And Mass Assembly Survey (GAMA) has now been operating for almost 5 years gathering spectroscopic redshifts for five regions of sky spanning 300 sq degrees in total to a depth of r < 19.8 mag. The survey has amassed over 225,000 redshifts making it the third largest redshift campaign after the SDSS and BOSS surveys. The survey has two novel features that set it apart: (1) complete and uniform sampling to a fixed flux limit (r < 19.8 mag) regardless of galaxy clustering due to multiple-visits to each sky region, enabling the construction of high-fidelity catalogues of groups and pairs, (2) co-ordination with diverse imaging campaigns which together sample an extremely broad range along the electro-magnetic spectrum from the UV (GALEX) through optical (VST KIDs), near-IR (VISTA VIKING), mid-IR (WISE), far-IR (Herschel-Atlas), 1m (GMRT), and eventually 20cm continuum and rest-frame 21cm line measurements (ASKAP DINGO). Apart from the ASKAP campaign all multi-wavelength programmes are either complete or in the final stages of observations and the UV-far-IR data are expected to be fully merged by the end of 2013. This article provides a brief flavour of the coming panchromatic database which will eventually include measurements or upper-limits across 27 wavebands for 380,000 galaxies. GAMA DR2 is scheduled for the end of January 2013.

The past 15 years have seen an explosion in the number of redshifts recovered via wide area spectroscopic surveys. At the current time there are approximately 2 million spectroscopic galaxy redshifts known (and rising) which represents an extraordinary growth since the pioneering work of Marc Davis and John Huchra. Similarly there has been a parallel explosion in wavelength coverage with imaging surveys progressing from single band, to multi-band, to truly multiwavelength or pan-chromatic involving the coordination of multiple facilities. With these empirically motivated studies has come a wealth of new discoveries impacting almost all areas of astrophysics. Today individual surveys, as best demonstrated by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, now rank shoulder-to-shoulder alongside major facilities. In the coming years this trend is set to continue as we begin the process of designing and conducting the next generation of spectroscopic surveys supported by multi-facility wavelength coverage.

The GAMA survey aims to deliver 250,000 optical spectra (3–7 Å resolution) over 250 sq. degrees to spectroscopic limits of rAB < 19.8 and KAB < 17.0 mag. Complementary imaging will be provided by GALEX, VST, UKIRT, VISTA, HERSCHEL and ASKAP to comparable flux levels leading to a definitive multi-wavelength galaxy database. The data will be used to study all aspects of cosmic structures on 1kpc to 1Mpc scales spanning all environments and out to a redshift limit of z ≈ 0.4. Key science drivers include the measurement of: the halo mass function via group velocity dispersions; the stellar, HI, and baryonic mass functions; galaxy component mass-size relations; the recent merger and star-formation rates by mass, types and environment. Detailed modeling of the spectra, broad SEDs, and spatial distributions should provide individual star formation histories, ages, bulge-disc decompositions and stellar bulge, stellar disc, dust disc, neutral HI gas and total dynamical masses for a significant subset of the sample (~ 100k) spanning both the giant and dwarf galaxy populations. The survey commenced March 2008 with 50k spectra obtained in 21 clear nights using the Anglo Australian Observatory's new multi-fibre-fed bench-mounted dual-beam spectroscopic system (AAΩ).

Using the Millennium Galaxy Catalogue we quantify the dependency of the disc and bulge luminosity functions on galaxy inclination. Using a contemporary dust model we show that our results are consistent with galaxy discs being optically thick in their central regions (). As a consequence the measured B-band fluxes of bulges can be severely attenuated by 50% to 95% depending on disc inclination. We argue that a galaxy's optical appearance can be radically transformed by simply removing the dust, e.g. during cluster infall, with mid-type galaxies becoming earlier, redder, and more luminous. Finally we derive the mean photon escape fraction from the integrated galaxy population over the 0.1 μm to 2.1 μm range, and use this to show that the energy of starlight absorbed by dust (in our model) is in close agreement with the total far-IR emission.

Galaxy bimodality is caused by the bulge-disc nature of galaxies as opposed to two distinct galaxy classes. This is evident in the colour-structure plane which clearly shows that elliptical galaxies (bulge-only) lie in the red compact peak and late-type spiral galaxies (disc-dominated) lie in the blue diffuse peak. Early-type spirals (bulge plus disc systems) sprawl across both peaks. However after bulge-disc decomposition the bulges of early-type spirals lie exclusively in the red compact peak and their discs in the blue diffuse peak (exceptions exist but are rare, e.g., dust reddened edge-on discs and blue pseudo-bulges). Movement between these two peaks is not trivial because whilst switching off star-formation can transform colours from blue to red, modifying the orbits of ~1 billion stars from a planar diffuse structure to a triaxial compact structure is problematic (essentially requiring an equal mass merger). We propose that the most plausible explanation for the dual structure of galaxies is that galaxy formation proceeds in two stages. First an initial collapse phase (forming a centrally concentrated core and black hole), followed by splashback, infall and accretion (forming a planar rotating disc). Dwarf systems coule perhaps follow the same scenario but the lack of low luminosity bulge-disc systems would imply that the two components must rapidly blend to form a single flattened spheroidal system.

We summarise recent Hubble Space Telescope results on the morphology of faint field galaxies. Our two principle results are: (1) the galaxies responsible for the faint blue excess have late-type/irregular morphology and (2) the number counts of normal galaxies, ellipticals and early-type spirals, are well fit by standard no-evolution models implying that the giant population was in place and mature by a redshift of ≥ 0.7.