Multibeam Maser Survey of methanol and excited OH in the Magellanic clouds: new detections and maser abundance estimates

‘The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com.’ Copyright Blackwell Publishing DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.12888.xPeer reviewe

A New CO Survey of the Monoceros OB1 Region

This survey in the (J = 1 → 0) line of CO at 115 GHz was conducted in 1993 and 1994 using the 1.2m millimeter-wave telescope at the CfA (see Oliver et al. 1996 for more complete description). The survey area, l = 196.0° to l = 206.5°, b = −1.5° to b = +3.5° was covered on a square grid in l and b with spacings of 3′.75 (0.4 FWHM) to give uniform sensitivity. All the spectra were position switched against positions measured be free of CO to 0.05 K. Each spectrum has 256 channels 0.25 MHz wide, giving a resolution of 0.65 km s−1 over 166 km s−1. The channel to channel noise temperature in the original spectra was 0.24 K (RMS) which was reduced to 0.115 K per beam by smoothing to 10′.</jats:p

The 6-GHz multibeam maser survey – I. Techniques

‘The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com '. Copyright Blackwell Publishing / Royal Astronomical Society. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.14091.xA new 7-beam 6−7 GHz receiver has been built to survey the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds for newly forming high-mass stars that are pinpointed by strong methanol maser emission at 6668 MHz. The receiver was jointly constructed by Jodrell Bank Observatory (JBO) and the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) and allows simultaneous coverage at 6668 and 6035 MHz. It was successfully commissioned at Parkes in January 2006 and is now being used to conduct the Parkes-Jodrell multibeam maser survey of the Milky Way. This will be the first systematic survey of the entire Galactic plane for masers of not only 6668-MHz methanol, but also 6035-MHz excited-state hydroxyl. The survey is two orders of magnitude faster than most previous systematic surveys and has an rms noise level of 0.17 Jy. This paper describes the observational strategy, techniques and reduction procedures of the Galactic and Magellanic Cloud surveys, together with deeper, pointed, follow-up observations and complementary observations with other instruments. It also includes an estimate of the survey detection efficiency. The 111 days of observations with the Parkes telescope have so far yielded >800 methanol sources, of which 350 are new discoveries. The whole project will provide the first comprehensive Galaxy-wide catalogue of 6668-MHz and 6035-MHz masers.Peer reviewe

The AAO/UKST SuperCOSMOS Ha survey

The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com. Copyright Blackwell Publishing DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09350.xThe UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST) of the Anglo-Australian Observatory completed a narrow-band H plus [NII] 6548, 6584°A survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Magellanic Clouds in late 2003. The survey, which was the last UKST wide-field pho- tographic survey, and the only one undertaken in a narrow band, is now an on-line digital data product of the Wide-Field Astronomy Unit of the Royal Observatory Ed- inburgh (ROE). The survey utilised a high specification, monolithic H interference band-pass filter of exceptional quality. In conjunction with the fine grained Tech-Pan film as a detector it has produced a survey with a powerful combination of area cover- age (4000 square degrees), resolution (∼1 arcsecond) and sensitivity (≤5 Rayleighs), reaching a depth for continuum point sources of R ≃ 20.5. The main survey consists of 233 individual fields on a grid of centres separated by 4◦ at declinations below +2◦ and covers a swathe approximately 20◦ wide about the Southern Galactic Plane. The original survey films were scanned by the SuperCOSMOS measuring machine at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh to provide the on-line digital atlas called the SuperCOSMOS H Survey (SHS).Peer reviewe

Ultra Heavy Cosmic Rays

The existence in the cosmic rays of ultra-heavy (UH) nuclei with Z ≥ 30 was established by two separate experiments in 1966. Fleischer et al. first demonstrated the fossil tracks of such nuclei in certain meteoritic crystals and shortly afterwards Fowler established their existence in present-day cosmic rays with the detection of their tracks in photographic emulsion which had been exposed during a high altitude balloon flight. The fluxes of such nuclei are very low, only ~ 10−4 of that of iron, and the most suitable method of detection to date has been the analysis of the tracks formed by these particles in very large(several m2) arrays of plastic detector material, notably Lexan polycarbonate. Such exposures on balloons and on Skylab have provided practically all present knowledge of the UH cosmic rays. Unfortunately, the charge resolution obtained was disappointing, even though scrupulous care was taken in the handling and etching of the material, and the charge scale itself of necessity had to be based on a considerable extrapolation from the iron peak and could not be used with great confidence. The situation now, however, is in the process of being transformed. We have two satellite experiments devoted to the study of UH cosmic rays and in operation at the moment. These are the Bristol University experiment on Ariel 6 launched on 3rd June 1979 and the joint group under Israel, Waddington and Stone on HEAO-C launched in September 1979. It is therefore appropriate, I believe, if I devote this review to the new preliminary results and a comparison of this material with the published data.</jats:p