The general perturbations of the asteroids of the Flora group (975″ < n < 1150″, n - the mean daily motion) due to Jupiter have been automatically computed on an IBM 4341 computer with the Hansen method by manipulating Broucke’s Symbolic Poisson Series Processor, and the results have been compared with that computed previously with the Bohlin group method.

The observations in this paper were carried out as part of a program co-ordinated by the Occultation Section of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand.

On 6 August 1989 minor planet (9) Metis occulted the magnitude 8.7 star SAO 190531. The occultation was observed by two visual observers in Tasmania, and at one photoelectric and two visual sites in New Zealand. From the five chords obtained we have deduced an average cross-sectional diameter for this minor planet of 173.5 km at the time of the occultation. This is in good agreement with previous radiometric and polarimetric results.

An attempt has been made to examine the nature of 3-minute umbral oscillations in order to identify their origin. For this purpose we have calculated, on the basis of Musielak and Rosner (1987), the fast-mode energy spectra generated in a typical sunspot convection zone (Yun 1968). The computed energy spectrum is fed into the lower boundary of the sub-photospheric resonant cavity to examine the characteristics of the wave propagation through the SS umbral atmosphere (Avrett 1981). The upward velocity spectra computed at various heights are presented and their behaviour compared with observations.

Film copies of original astronomical plates taken with the 1.2-metre UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST) at Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales have been used for several years at Edinburgh University. Two teaching packages are intended for undergraduate use; the educational packages are mainly designed as visual aids for colleges, schools and amateur groups.

The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) is a NASA funded astronomy mission which will operate in the 70–760Å spectral hand. The science payload has been designed and built by the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley and consists of three grazing incidence scanning telescopes and an EUV spectrometer/deep survey instrument.

We give an overview of the planned mission profile and briefly discuss the instrumentation which comprises the science payload. The EUVE is scheduled for launch in late August 1991.

We describe the application of Peltier effect cooling to charge coupled device (CCD) detectors. We are developing this technique to produce a CCD camera which requires low maintenance, yet has sufficiently small dark-current for long exposure imaging. This camera will be used in an automated imaging telescope at Siding Spring Observatory. The design principles used to maximise cooling of the detector, and hence minimise dark-current, are discussed. A small dark-current can be obtained only if great care is taken to reduce or eliminate convective, conductive and radiative heating of the chip. In addition, a path of high thermal conductivity must be provided for the heat removed from the CCD. A recent laboratory test of our cooling system demonstrates that careful design can lead to sufficiently low CCD dark-current for many astronomical applications.

In 1988, a very powerful and versatile coudé echelle spectrograph was installed at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Since then it has been winning about 30% of AAT time and has been highly productive scientifically. Therefore, using a coudé auxiliary telescope (CAT) to give the spectrograph more use and to free the AAT for other work is a very attractive possibility, particularly if the CAT can give a sensitivity similar to that obtained with the 3.9-metre telescope. While a conventional CAT with such performance would be very expensive, a much cheaper instrument should approach this goal, at least for high resolution spectroscopy. Even so, the cost could not be met in a reasonable time within the AAO’s budget; hence, additional international collaboration is being sought.

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.

A Photometrics CCD system containing a TH7882 chip has been in use at Mt John since 1989 October for imaging photometry. Extra control software has increased observing ease and image-header information. Photometrically the system appears to be performing satisfactorily. The blue helium star LSS 99 showed no variation exceeding ~ 1% over 40 min of observation. The blue eclipsing binary HV 1761 in the Small Magellanic Cloud is found to have approximately equal components.

We have extended the integration time of a Philips type 56470 video camera to make it useful for visual offset guiding on 0.6- and 1-metre telescopes.

The PKSCAT90 database consists of radio and optical data for 8264 radio sources. It covers all the sky south of declination +27 degrees. Most of the galactic plane and the Magellanic Cloud regions are excluded from this catalogue but have been the subject of other specialised surveys. A few data errors in the initial PKSCAT90 version 1.00 released in March 1990 have been corrected in the current version 1.01 edition.

This paper describes a system utilising a sapphire-loaded superconductor cavity to provide a high-stability oscillator signal for use in VLBI observations.

A number of New Zealand universities offer astronomy courses at different undergraduate levels. The courses are taught in Physics or Mathematics Departments. Some are only sub-courses within a physics major rather than a dedicated astronomy course. I will detail these and show material relating to the course content and some of the texts used. Postgraduate programs in astronomy are also offered, principally at the University of Canterbury but also at the University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington.

Over the past ten years a comprehensive educational program has been developed at Carter Observatory which covers every level from pre-school to PhD. A great deal of time also is expended in a varied adult education program. Every effort has been made to co-ordinate the various parts of the program in such a way that people will be encouraged to take a productive interest in astronomy.

A version of this paper was originally presented at the Fifth National Space Engineering Symposium at Canberra in November 1989. A copy of the full paper will be found in the text of the Proceedings. It is presented here because the authors believe that the issues raised and strategies suggested are as relevant to the astronomical community as they are to other areas of space science and technology.

Auckland Observatory is a public observatory with a strong research interest. Its activities are reviewed and described. The important role which public access to current astronomy plays is mentioned.

This paper summarises the opportunities available for postgraduate education in astronomy and related disciplines in China.

This paper describes the Star Watch Program in Japan to monitor night-sky brightness.

By 1989 a new curriculum in Japanese elementary and secondary schools had been devised and started. I will report on the contents of the new curriculum and point out some problems in teaching astronomy in Japan identified from the results of recent research in science education. Recent research shows that it is important to know how children’s ideas and misconceptions are constructed and what role the philosophy of science may play in shaping them.

Astronomy is one of the most ancient disciplines of knowledge which has inspired a great deal of human thought. Its study has triggered developments in many fields. Bohr’s atomic model and our idea about the thermonuclear fusion are two of the many examples which have significantly influenced (and will continue to influence) the course of human civilisation.