Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics


STAFF ACTIVITIES

HONOURS, AWARDS AND GRANTS

Dr D Bersier

Swiss Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics travel grant to attend overseas conference.

IAU travel grant to attend overseas conference.

Dr G Bicknell

DIST grant of $4,100 to travel to the University of Colorado and the University of Victoria.

Mr M Bureau

FF2000 support grant from the Observatoire de Marseille for a working visit, January-March.

Dr M Colless

DIST Bilateral Science and Technology Collaboration Program grant of $4,500 for collaborative research with Prof R S Ellis (Cambridge) and others on 'A Very Large Anglo-Australian Redshift Survey'.

DIST Bilateral Science and Technology Collaboration Program grant of $4,150 for collaborative research with Prof D Burstein (ASU) and others on 'Large Scale Motions in the Universe'.

AUSTRALIS consortium contract for $2,300,000 to design and build the fibre positioner unit of the FLAMES spectrograph on ESO's Very Large Telescope with Dr K Taylor (AAO) and Dr W J Couch (UNSW).

Dr G Da Costa

Travel funds of approximately $12,000 from the MNRF International Collaboration Travel Fund to cover costs associated with attending, as Australian Gemini Project Scientist, four International Gemini Project meetings during 1998.

Travel grant from the IAU of 700SF to attend IAU Symposium 190 in Victoria, BC, in July.

Prof M Dopita

ISTAC Major Grant: 'Space Science with the Hubble Space Telescope', $93,000 for 1997-8.

Dr P Francis

$6000, ARC small grant.


Annual Report 1998


Prof K Freeman

Fellow, Royal Society of London.

Dr C Heisler

$7,249 from ANSTO to travel to Canary Islands, Spain to use WHT for Optical Spectropolarimetry of Northern Seyferts Project.

$3,200 from ANSTO to travel to Chile, South America to use SEST for millimeter observations of 'COLA' Galaxies.

$1,060 from Max-Planck-Institute fur Extratraterrestrisch Physik for room and board to attend 'Ultraluminous Galaxy' Workshop at Ringberg Castle, Germany.

Honorary Research Associate, University of Sydney.

Mr DH Jones

ANSTO Access to Major National Facilities Fund.

Mr S Keller

IAU Grant of $800 (USD) to attend IAU 190 in Victoria, B.C. Canada.

DIST Hubble Space Telescope Research Grant: $3,000.

Ms L Kewley

$3,000 Travel grant from DIST program 'Space Science with the Hubble Space Telescope' to attend COSPAR assembly, visit Johns Hopkins University, attend Ringberg 'Luminous Infrared Galaxies' Workshop, and visit University of Calgary.

$2,000 IAU travel grant to visit l'Institute d'Astrophysique de Paris, Sept-Nov.

$2,500 Australian Research Council grant towards airfare to attend Les Houches Infrared Summer School and visit l'Institute d'Astrophysique de Paris.

$2,000 PICS Cooperation grant towards accommodation while at l'Institute d'Astrophysique de Paris.

Dr P J McGregor

MNRF International Collaborations Program grant of $2,900 to attend the Gemini Instrument Forum.

Prof J Mould

Fellow, Australian Academy of Science.

Oort Professor, Leiden University.

International Science and Technology Program grant from DIST, $30,000.


Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics


Ms M Putman

Travel grant to attend IAU Colloquium 190, 'New Views of the Magellanic Clouds' in Victoria, Canada.

ANSTO travel grant to observe with the WHT in La Palma, Canary Islands.

Dr B Schmidt

"Science" Magazine 'Breakthrough of the Year' award.

Visiting Scientist award of $550 from Melbourne University's Post Graduate Student Council.

DIST Collaborative Science Program: Award of $3,300 for travel to Boston and Munich to visit collaborators in May.

ANSTO Access to Major Facilities: Award of $2,998 for travel to Chile in March.

DIST International Science and Technology Program: 'Space Science with the Hubble Space Telescope' award of $3,564 for travel to Chile in January.

DIST International Science and Technology Program: 'Space Science with the Hubble Space Telescope' award of $2,262 for travel to Hawaii in March.

DIST International Science and Technology Program: 'Space Science with the Hubble Space Telescope' award of $4,732 to travel to Texas Symposium in Paris in December.

Dr M Sevenster

IAU grant of $250 to attend IAU Symposium 191 in Montpellier .

Observatoire de Meudon grant of $750 to attend Meudon Colloquium in Paris.

Dr RS Sutherland

1997/98 DEETYA Bilateral Collaboration grant: $3500.

Dr G Van de Steene

Grant from ANSTO 'Access to major research facilities program', $3,500.

Dr P Wood

ANSTO Access to Major Research Facilities Program: $5,460 for Bersier and Wood to observe on the WHT, La Palma.


Annual Report 1998


EXTERNAL COLLABORATIONS

Twenty eight RSAA astronomers took part in 128 collaborations during 1998. These collaborations involved 56 European astronomers, 204 from the Americas, 11 from Asia and 41 astronomers from the U.K. Reported collaborations with Australian institutions are shown in the accompanying diagram.

A full listing of external collaborations is given in the ANU Annual Report for 1998.


Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics


CONFERENCES ATTENDED

MG Allen

American Astronomical Society Scientific Meeting, Washington DC, USA, 6-10 January.

Dissertation Talk: "UV Diagnostics for the Emission Line Gas in Active Galaxies", Allen, M G, Dopita, M A, Tsvetanov, Z I.

ESO Headquarters, Garching, Germany, 13 January.

Talk: "UV Diagnostics for the Emission Line Gas in Active Galaxies", Allen, MG.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA, 25 January.

Invited Talk: "UV Diagnostics for the Emission Line Gas in Active Galaxies", Allen, M G, Dopita, M A, Tsvetanov, Z I.

Dr TS Axelrod

SPIE Conference on Instrumentation for Astronomy, March 1998.

Paper: "The MACHO Data Pipeline".

Dr D Bersier

Sydney Worksop on stellar oscillations, 25 March.

Invited contribution: "MACHO results on Cepheids".

Astronomical Society of Australia, Annual Meeting, Adelaide, 6-9 July.

Contributed talk: "How Cepheids can constrain Hipparcos parallaxes of open clusters".

IAU Symposium 192: 'The Stellar Content of Local Group Galaxies', Cape Town, 7-11 September.

Poster paper: "A search for Anomalous Cepheids and RR Lyrae in the Fornax dwarf galaxy".

Talk at Geneva Observatory, on "Cepheides et formation stellaire dans le Grand Nuage de Magellan".

Dr GV Bicknell

Astronomical Society of Australia, Annual General Meeting, Adelaide, 6-9 July. Contributed paper: Bicknell and Wagner, Interpretation of time resolved X-ray and gamma ray spectra of Markarian 501.

Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, Paris, France, 14-18 December.

Invited paper: Bicknell and Wagner, "Interpretation of time resolved X-ray and gamma ray spectra of Markarian 501".

Mr M Bureau

Talk at the European Southern Observatory, Garching, 15 January, "The Nature of Boxy/Peanut-Shaped Bulges in Spiral Galaxies".


Annual Report 1998


Talk at Sterrewacht Leiden, Leiden, 26 January, "The Nature of Boxy/Peanut-Shaped Bulges in Spiral Galaxies".

Talk at the Observatoire de Marseille, Marseille, 27 February, "The Nature of Boxy/Peanut-Shaped Bulges in Spiral Galaxies".

Talk at the Astronomisches Institut der Universitt Basel, Basel, 23 March, "The Nature of Boxy/Peanut-Shaped Bulges in Spiral Galaxies".

Talk at the Observatoire de Geneve, Geneva, 24 March, "The Nature of Boxy/Peanut-Shaped Bulges in Spiral Galaxies".

Talk at the Universite de Montreal, Montreal, 2 April, "The Nature of Boxy/Peanut-Shaped Bulges in Spiral Galaxies".

Talk at the Australia Telescope National Facility, Sydney, 27 May, "The Nature of Boxy/Peanut-Shaped Bulges in Spiral Galaxies".

Talk at Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Canberra, 6 August, "The Nature of Boxy/Peanut-Shaped Bulges in Spiral Galaxies".

ASA Harley Wood Winter School of Astronomy: Galaxy Formation and Evolution, Adelaide, 2-5 July.

Astronomical Society of Australia, 32th AGM, Adelaide, 6-9 July.

Contributed talk: "The Nature of Boxy/Peanut-Shaped Bulges in Spiral Galaxies", Bureau, M, Freeman, K C, & Athanassoula, E.

High Velocity Clouds Workshop, Canberra, 14-15 August.

Third Stromlo Symposium: 'The Galactic Halo: Bright Stars & Dark Matter', Canberra, 17-21 August.

Ms M Buxton

Astronomical Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting, Adelaide, 6-9 July.

Third Stromlo Symposium, The Galactic Halo: Bright Stars & Dark Matter', Canberra, 17-21 August.

ANUATC Workshop on Magnetic Fields and Accretion, Canberra, 12-13 November.

Talk: "Beauty in Astrophysics", University of Tasmania, 10 September.

Dr MM Colless

AAO/ATNF Symposium, 18-19 March, Canberra.

Talk: 'Progress with the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey'.

Royal Society Discussion Meeting, 25-27 March, London.

Talk: 'First Results from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey'.


Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics


Institute of Astronomy seminar, 2 April, Cambridge.

Talk: 'Age and metallicity in early-type galaxies'.

Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris Symposium 14, 26-29 May, Paris.

Talk: 'Early Results from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey'.

Third Stromlo Symposium, The Galactic Halo: Bright Stars & Dark Matter', 17-21 August , Canberra.

SUMSS Science Workshop, 23 November.

Talk: 'The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey'.

Dr GS Da Costa

Annual Meeting, Astronomical Society of Australia, Adelaide, 6-9 July.

Invited Presentation: "Participation in Gemini - the View from Australia".

IAU Symposium 190, New Views of the Magellanic Clouds, Victoria, BC, Canada, 13-17 July.

Invited Review: "Star Clusters in the Magellanic Clouds", Da Costa, G S Poster Presentation: "AM-3: An Intermediate-Age Star Cluster in the Extreme Outskirts of the SMC".

The Third Stromlo Symposium, 'The Galactic Halo - Bright Stars and Dark Matter', Canberra, 17-21 August.

Invited Review: "The Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies in the Galactic Halo".

Sydney Association for Astrophysics Meeting, Sydney, 3 November

Invited Lecture: "The International Gemini Project - An Update".

SUMSS Science Workshop 1998, Sydney, 23 November.

Invited Presentation: "The Gemini Telescopes - What and When".

Visit to the University of Florida, Gainesville, for four days in February to take part in an International Gemini Project Workshop on System Verification Programs for the Gemini telescopes and instruments.

Visits to the International Gemini Project in Hawaii, for one week in both March and September, to attend various meetings, which included the Committee of Gemini Offices and the Gemini Instrument Forum, as the Australian Gemini Project Scientist. Also, a similar visit for 4 days in October to attend the Gemini Science Committee meeting.

Prof. MA Dopita

IAU Symposium 190: New Views on the Magellanic Clouds Victoria, British Colombia, Canada, 12-17 July.

Invited talk: "Planetary Nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds".

IAU Symposium 194: Activity in Galaxies and Related Phenomena, Buryakan, Armenia, 17-21 August.

Invited Talk: "The Physics of the Unified Model of Active Galaxies".


Annual Report 1998


The "Galactic Bulges Workshop", Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, 5-7 October.

IAU Symposium #193: Massive Stars and their Galactic Environment, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 3-7 November. Invited Contribution "Massive stars and their ISM environment".

Visits and Seminars:

During his Study Leave, Dopita visited the following Institutions:

4 March - 31June: Osservatorio di Capodimonte, Napoli, Itay

1July - 15 August: Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, England

1Sept - 15 Sept: Institut d'Astrophysique, Paris, France

16 Sept - 31 October Oservatorio di Arcetri, Firenze, Italy.

Dopita gave a total of eleven seminars on a range of topics and at a number of locations. These were:

"Planetary Nebulae: Models and Problems"

April 8th.: Osservatorio di Capodimonte, Napoli, Italy

Oct 1st: Osservatorio di Arcetri, Firenze, Italy

"Antarctic Astronomy: the Deepest Frontier"

May 20th: Osservatorio di Capodimonte, Napoli, Italy

"Shock Models of Active Galactic Nuclei"

June 23rd: Osservatorio di Capodimonte, Napoli, Italy

Sept. 3rd: CNRS, Orsay, Paris, France

Sept. 4th: Institut d'Astrophysique, Paris, France

Sept 28th: Instituto Radiofisica, Bologna, Italy

"Towards a Truly Unified Model of Active Galaxies"

June 23rd: Osservatorio di Capodimonte, Napoli, Italy

Sept. 7th: Institut d'Astrophysique, Paris, France

Oct 20th: Osservatorio di Padova, Italy

Oct 26th: Osservatorio di Torino, Italy

Dr M de Kool

ATC Workshop on Magnetic Fields and Accretion, Canberra, 12-13 November Talk on 'Magnetic Energy Dissipation and the Vertical Structure of Accretion Discs'.

Dr PJ Francis

American Astronomical Society Meeting, Washington DC, 7-10 January .

Harley Wood Winter School: Galaxy Evolution, Roseworthy, 3-5 July Invited Review, "First Light in the Universe".

Astronomical Society of Australia, Annual Meeting, Adelaide, 6-9 July Talk, "Massive Old Elliptical Galaxies at High Redshift".


Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics


Australasian Society for General Relativity and Gravitation, 2nd Conference, Sydney, 6-10 July.

Invited Review, "The Dark Ages of the Universe".

Third Stromlo Symposium: The Third Stromlo Symposium, Canberra, 17-21 August.

Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey Workshop, Sydney, 23 November.

3rd Stromlo AGN workshop, Canberra, 3-4 December. Talk, "What do proto-Galaxy Surveys Tell us about AGN?".

Visit to Goddard Space-Flight Center for 2 weeks in January for joint work with Dr BE Woodgate.

Talks at NASA GSFC and Columbia University, New York, on "Galaxy Clusters in the Early Universe".

Visit to Goddard Space-Flight Center and UK for 2 weeks in July for joint work with several people.

Talks at the University of Sussex, the University of Cambridge and NASA GSFC on "A Cluster of Galaxies at Redshift 2.38."

Colloquium at University of New South Wales, 17 September on "Unspeakable Teaching Experiments Inflicted upon Undergraduate Astronomy and Physics Students".

Colloquium at University of Sydney, 9 November on "Using Role-playing Games to Teach Undergraduate Astronomy and Physics".

Prof KC Freeman

Lectured at Jerusalem Winter School, December 27 1997 - January 8 on properties of our Galaxy.

Visit to Osservatorio de Capodimonte, Naples, January 19-28 for collaborative work and lecture on "Dark Matter".

Visit to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, January 29 - February 2 for MACHO team meeting.

Visit to Santiago, March 8-16, for meeting of Joint Committee ESO/Chile.

Visit to Netherlands, UK and La Palma, March 28 - April 11, for meetings of the La Palma Visiting Committee.

Visit to Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, June 7 - July 4, for collaborative work. Visit to Yale Observatory June 17-19 for lecture on "NGC 2915: a Rotating Dark Halo".

Attended conference on "Low Surface Brightness Galaxies", Cardiff, July 6-10.

Invited talk on "Historical Overview of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies".


Annual Report 1998


Attended Third Stromlo Symposium "The Galactic Halo".

Invited talk on "M31".

Attended IAU SYmposium 192 on "The Local Group", Capetown, September 7-11.

Invited lecture on "Internal Kinematics of Local Group Galaxies".

Attended Multibeam Conference "HI in the Universe", Melbourne, 28-29 September and gave the Conference Summary talk.

Attended Subaru HDS meeting in Hilo, October 11-14.

Invited lecture on "The Baryon Content of Clusters of Galaxies".

Dr C Heisler

ASP Conference on Structure and Kinematics of Quasar Broad Line Regions, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, 23-26 March.

Paper and lecture: "Investigating the Nuclei of 60 micron Peaker galaxies".

Ultraluminous Galaxies: Monsters or Babies workshop at Ringberg Castle, Germany, 20-26 September.

Paper and lecture:"Near-Infrared Spectral Mapping of NGC 1614", Heisler, C, Dopita, M, Kewley, L, Lumsden, S.

International Square Kilometer Array Science Meeting at Calgary, Canada, 19-22 July.

Dr H Jerjen

HI in the Local Universe II, Melbourne, 28-30 September.

Mr DH Jones

Harley Wood Winter School, Roseworthy Agricultural College, Adelaide, July 2-5 .

Astronomical Society of Australia, 32nd AGM, Sydney NSW, July 6-9

Poster Paper: Parallelism of a Fabry-Perot Cavity at Micron Spacings.

Australia Telescope National Facility/Anglo-Australian Observatory Joint Symposium, March 18-19 1998,

Contributed Talk: TTF H-alpha Emission-Line Galaxies in A 3665.

Dr AJ Kalnajs

The Third Stromlo Symposium, 'The Galactic Halo', Canberra, 17-21 August.

ATNF Astronomical Imaging Workshop, Narrabri NSW, 14-18 November.

Invited Lecture: 'Fourier transforms'.


Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics


Mr S Keller

IAU Colloquium 190: New Views on the Magellanic Clouds, Victoria B.C., Canada.

Poster paper: "Young Populous Clusters - Implications for Evolutionary Models", Keller, SC, Bessell, MS & Da Costa, G.

Ms L Kewley

Astronomical Society of Australia Scientific Meeting, University of Adelaide.

Contributed talk: "Compact Radio Cores in Luminous Infrared Galaxies", Kewley, LJ, Heisler, C A, Dopita, MA, Sutherland, R, Norris, RP.

COSPAR General Assembly, Nagoya Japan.

Contributed talk: "The AGN/Starburst Connection in Luminous Infrared Galaxies", Kewley, LJ, Heisler, CA, Dopita, MA, Sutherland, R, Norris, RP.

Ringberg Workshop, 'Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies' Munich Germany.

Contributed poster: "The AGN/Starburst Connection in Luminous Infrared Galaxies", Kewley, LJ, Heisler, CA, Dopita, MA, Sutherland, R, Norris, RP.

ASA, Harley Wood Winter School, Barossa Valley, SA.

Infrared Space Astronomy Summer School, Les Houches France .

3rd Stromlo AGN Workshop.

Contributed talk: "The importance of Mergers and AGN in Luminous Infrared Galaxies", Kewley, LJ, Heisler, CA, Dopita, MA, Sutherland, R, Norris, RP.

Prof. JE Norris

Anglo-Australian Observatory/Australia Telescope National Facility Joint Symposium, Canberra, March.

Paper: "The Anglo-Australian Observatory Stellar Populations Survey" .

III Ciclos de Cursos Especiais da Pos-Graduacao, Rio de Janiero, June.

Five invited lectures: "The Formation and Evolution of our Galaxy".

Third Stromlo Symposium: The Galactic Halo - Bright Stars & Dark Matter, Canberra, August.

Invited paper: "The Chemical Abundance Structure of the Galactic Halo".

Galaxy Evolution:

Connecting the Distant Universe with the Local Fossil Record, Paris, September.

Invited paper: "The Galactic Thick Disk - Status".

SUBARU Workshop: Stars & Galaxies: Decipherment of Cosmic History with Spectroscopy, Hilo, October.

Invited paper: "Spectroscopic Studies of the Most Metal-deficient Stars".

Dr PJ McGregor

Astronomical Society of Australia, AGM, Adelaide, 6-9 July.

Contributed Talk: "Optical Spectroscopy of Eta Carinae".


Annual Report 1998


Third Stromlo Symposium, Canberra, 17-21 August.

Talk at Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii on "Intermediate

Radio-Loud IRAS Galaxies", 17 September.

SUMSS Science Workshop, Sydney, Nov 23.

Invited Talk: "Multi-Wavelength Observations of IRAS Sources".

4th MSSSO AGN Workshop, Canberra, 3-4 December.

Prof. JR Mould

Talk to National Youth Science Forum, Mount Stromlo Observatory, 8 January.

CSIRO Minerals Science Forum, Woodend, Victoria, 24 March.

NACAA Public Lecture, Sutherland, Sydney, 11 April.

Colloquium at Utrecht, Netherlands, 28 April.

Colloquium at Oort Workshop on the AUSTRALIS spectrograph, 14-15 May.

Oort Lecture, Leiden, Netherlands, 29 April.

Lorentz Center Concentration Period on the Calibration of the Extragalactic Distance Scale, Leiden Netherlands, 16-30 May.

American Astronomical Society, Topical Session, Workshop Summary. San Diego, 9-11 June.

Invited talk: "Future of Antarctic Astrophysics".

Astronomical Society of Australia AGM, University of Adelaide, July.

HI Conference, University of Melbourne, 28-30 September.

Address on behalf of the IAU at the International Astronautical Federation Conference, Melbourne, 28 September.

Talk to Canberra Astronomical Society, Canberra, 15 October.

Mr D Pfitzner

Astronomical Society of Australia, 32nd AGM, Adelaide, 6-9 July. Talk: Velocity Bias in Clusters.

The Third Stromlo Symposium, Canberra, 17-21 August.

Ms M Putman

Invited talk to the ATNF Steering Committee on the first results of the HI Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS).


Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics


AAO-ATNF Joint Symposium, Canberra.

Talk: Origin of the Magellanic Stream.

IAU190: New Views of the Magellanic Clouds, Victoria, Canada.

The Third Stromlo Symposium: The Galactic Halo, Canberra .

Stromlo Workshop on High Velocity Clouds, Canberra .

HI in the Local Universe - II, Melbourne.

Mr WH Roberts

Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VIII, Urbana, Illinois, USA, 1-4 November.

Dr BP Schmidt

Australian National University, Department of Physics Colloquium, "Measuring the Universe with Supernovae", April.

The Hubble Constant Workshop, Leiden, Holland, "Measuring H0 from Supernovae", May.

Astronomical Society of Australia Meeting, Adelaide, "High-Z SN Search Results" July.

University of Western Australia, Perth, Colloquium, "Measuring the Universe with Supernovae", September.

Perth, Public Lecture, "Taking Measure of the Universe", September.

Melbourne University, Astrophysics Lecture, "A Universe full of Supernovae", October.

Melbourne, Public Lecture, "Taking Measuring of the Universe", September.

Texas Symposium, Paris, France, "High-Z SN Search Results", December .

Dr M Sevenster

IAU Symposium 191: 'Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars', Montpellier, Aug 27 - Sep 1.

Meudon Colloquium: 'Galaxy evolution: connecting the distant universe with the local fossil record', Paris, 21-25 September.

Dr R Smith

32nd ASA Annual Science Meeting, Adelaide, 6-9 July.

Contributed talk: "The 2dF QSO Redshift Survey".

3rd Stromlo Symposium. The Galactic Halo: Bright Stars & Dark Matter, MSSSO,


Annual Report 1998


17-21 August.

SUMMS Workshop, Sydney, 23 November.

Invited talk: "The 2dF QSO Redshift Survey" .

3rd Stromlo AGN Workshop, MSSSO, 3-4 December.

Contributed talk: "Radio-Loud Broad-Absorption-Line QSOs".

Mr R Soria

Astronomical Society of Australia, 26th AGM, Adelaide, 6-9 July (one poster paper presented).

Workshop on Magnetic Fields and Accretion, ANUATC, 12-13 November.

3rd Annual MSSSO AGN workshop, Stromlo, 3-4 December.

Talk on "Old, Metal-Rich Stars in NGC5128".

Visit to the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, 8 December.

Talk on "Optical Spectroscopy of GROJ1655-40".

2nd Workshop on Relativistic Jet Sources in the Galaxy, Paris, 12-13 December.

Talk on "Broad and Narrow Line Regions in the Microquasar GROJ1655-40".

19th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, Paris, 14-18 Dec (two poster papers presented).

Dr RS Sutherland

South Pole Field Trip, Tower vibration measurements and T-Mount diagnosis, with Brett McLinden. January.

DIST Bilateral Collaboration Grant, and Optical & UV Space Telescope Conference. University of Colorado, July-August.

Dr G Van de Steene

"Chemical Evolution from Zero to High Redshift", ESO, Garching, Germany, 14-16 October.

"The Galactic Halo: Bright Stars & Dark Matter", Australian National University, Canberra, 17-21 August.

Mr G Wilson

Harley Wood Winter School, Adelaide, 2-5 July.

Astronomical Society of Australia, Annual Scientific Meeting, Adelaide, 6-9 July.

The Third Stromlo Symposium, "The Galactic Halo: bright stars and dark matter", Canberra, 17-21 August.


Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics


Dr PR Wood

Workshop on Stellar Oscillations, Sydney, 25 March.

Invited talk: "Pulsations in Miras".

IAU Symposium 191: AGB Stars, Montpellier, 27 Aug - 1 September.

Talk: "MACHO Observations of LMC Red Giants", Wood P R and the MACHO Collaboration.

3rd Torino Workshop: AGB Star Models and Observations, Grenoble, 3-5 September.

Talk: "AGB Pulsations".

Gemini Adaptive Optics Working Group Meeting, Hilo, 10-11 December.

COURSES TAUGHT

Lecture Courses

The following lecture courses were given, mostly in conjunction with BSc courses in the Faculties:

Dr GV Bicknell High Energy Astrophysics (Maths 3054H)

Dr GS Da Costa Introduction to Astrophysics (Physics A05)

Fifty percent share of the first semester undergraduate course

Dr P Francis Astronomy and Planetary Science (Physics 1003)

Introduction to Astrophysics (Physics 1005)

Extra-Galactic Astronomy and Cosmology (Physics 1006)

The Big Questions (Physics 1007)

Dr RS Sutherland Interstellar Medium Physics (Physics 3043/ Maths C43H)

Prof. KC Freeman Galaxies and Cosmology (Mathematics C52H

Dr C Heisler One lecture on AGN and Quasars for Paul Francis' class.

Dr PJ McGregor Observational Techniques to MSSSO first-year PhD students.

Prof. JR Mould Galaxies and Cosmology, Mathematics C52H

Dr BP Schmidt Introductory Astrophysics (Physics 1006).

Prof. DWN Stibbs Galaxies and Cosmology (Mathematics C52H)

Dr PR Wood Stellar Evolution, Nucleosynthesis & Pulsation (Maths C53H)

The following lectures were also given:

Dr G Da Costa

In collaboration with Schmidt and Heisler, Da Costa also arranged two 4 day visits (April and September) of approximately 30 Monash third year undergraduate astrophysics students. The students learnt basic observing and reduction techniques through use of the 74inch telescope. Da Costa also supervised the visit of 5 Monash fourth year (honours) astrophysics students for 4 days in May. The students carried analysis of CCD data to produce colour-magnitude diagrams for star clusters.


Annual Report 1998


Dr MM Colless

National Observatory of Brazil, 1-5 June 1998, Rio de Janeiro, Course of five postgraduate lectures on 'Surveys of Galaxy Structures and Evolution'.

Dr PJ Francis

Francis and Byrne*(non-RSAA member of ANU) have been experimenting with some very unusual teaching techniques. The aim has been to develop teaching methods that allow students to integrate and apply their knowledge in real-world situations. A variety of techniques have been developed and trialled during the year, especially the use of role-playing games in class.

Teacher in-service Education Workshops for Primary and Secondary teachers.

Dr G Van de Steene

A Lecture on CCD's to students, University of Melbourne, April.