ALBERT

Description: We report new accurate radio position measurements for 30 sources, preliminary positions for two sources, improved radio postions for nine additional sources which had limited previous observations, and optical positions and optical-radio differences for six of the radio sources. The Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations are part of the continuing effort to establish a global radio reference frame of about 400 compact, flat spectrum sources, which are evenly distributed across the sky. The observations were made using Mark III data format in four separate sessions in 1988-89 with radio telescopes at Tidbinbilla, Australia, Kauai, USA, and Kashima, Japan. We observed a total of 54 sources, including ten calibrators and three which were undetected. The 32 new source positions bring the total number in the radio reference frame catalog to 319 (172 northern and 147 southern) and fill in the zone -25 deg greater than delta greater than -45 deg which, prior to this list, had the lowest source density. The VLBI positions have an average formal precision of less than 1 mas, although unknown radio structure effects of about 1-2 mas may be present. The six new optical postion measurements are part of the program to obtain positions of the optical counterparts of the radio reference frame source and to map accurately the optical on to the radio reference frames. The optical measurements were obtained from United States Naval Observatory (USNO) Black Birch astrograph plates and source plates from the AAT, and Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) 4 m, and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Schmidt. The optical positions have an average precision of 0.07 sec, mostly due to the zero point error when adjusted to the FK5 optical frame using the IRS catalog. To date we have measured optical positions for 46 sources.

Description: Radio and optical positions are presented for southern hemisphere extragalactic sources from the Parkes 2.7 GHz survey. Sixty-one sources were observed with Mark III VLBI at 8.4 GHz between Tidbinbilla, Australia, and Hartebeesthoek, South Africa. The results presented are part of the effort to establish a global reference frame of 400 extragalactic radio sources. Radio positions with about 10 milliarcsec errors have been estimated for 39 sources not previously in the present radio reference frame catalog, and provisional positions were obtained for two additional sources, bringing the total number of catalog sources to 276. The principal source of error is the uncalibrated ionosphere. Of the remaining sources five were completely undetected, six were either too faint or too resolved, and nine had previous catalog positions. Optical positions on the FK5 system have also been measured for four southern sources using prime focus plates from the Anglo-Australian 4 m telescope with an accuracy of 0.06 arcsec. This raises to 40 the number of radio sources with accurately measured positions for their optical counterparts.

Description: The frequency-independent rms temperature fluctuations determined from the Cosmic Background Explorer-Differential Microwave Radiometer (COBE-DMR) two-year sky maps are used to infer the parameter Q(sub rms-PS), which characterizes the normalization of power-law models of primordial cosmological temperature anisotropy, for a forced fit to a scale-invariant Harrison-Zel'dovich (n = 1) spectral model. Using a joint analysis of the 7 deg and 10 deg 'cross'-rms derived from both the 53 and 90 GHz sky maps, we find Q(sub rms-PS) = 17.0(sub -2.1 sup +2.5) micro Kelvin when the low quadrupole is included, and Q(sub rms-PS) = 19.4(sub -2.1 sup +2.3) micro Kelvin excluding the quadrupole. These results are consistent with the n = 1 fits from more sensitive methods. The effect of the low quadrupole derived from the COBE-DMR data on the inferred Q(sub rms-PS) normalization is investigated. A bias to lower Q(sub rms-PS) is found when the quadrupole is included. The higher normalization for a forced n = 1 fit is then favored by the cross-rms technique.

Description: The Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory observed high-energy gamma rays (50 - 2000 MeV) from quasar 0836 + 710 (z = 2.16) during observations in 1992 January, near the time of an optical fare (von Linde et al., 1993). The gamma-ray spectrum can be fitted with a power law with photon number index 2.4 +/- 0.2. EGRET identifies quasars 0454 - 234, 0804 + 499, 0906 + 430, 1510 - 089, and 2356 + 196 at a statistical significance of between 4 and 5 standard deviations.

Description: We compute the three-point temperature correlation function of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Differential Microwave Radiometer (DMR) first-year sky maps to search for non-Gaussian temperature fluctuations. The level of fluctuations seen in the computed correlation function are too large to be attributable solely to instrument noise. However the fluctuations are consistent with the level expected to result from a superposition of istrument noise and sky signal arising from a Gaussian power-law model of initial fluctuations, with a quadrupole normalized amplitude of 17 micro K and a power-law spectral index n = 1. We place limits on the amplitude of intrinsic three-point correlations with a variety of predicted functional forms.

Description: NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) carries three scientific instruments to make precise measurements of the spectrum and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation on angular scales greater than 7 deg and to conduct a search for a diffuse cosmic infrared background (CIB) radiation with 0.7 deg angular resolution. Data from the Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) show that the spectrum of the CMB is that of a blackbody of temperature T = 2.73 +/- 0.06 K, with no deviation from a blackbody spectrum greater than 0.25% of the peak brightness. The first year of data from the Differential Microwave Radiometers (DMR) show statistically significant CMB anisotropy. The anisotropy is consistent with a scale invariant primordial density fluctuation spectrum. Infrared sky brightness measurements from the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) provide new conservative upper limits to the CIB. Extensive modeling of solar system and galactic infrared foregrounds is required for further improvement in the CIB limits.

Description: The first results of the STARDUST project, aimed at producing and analyzing cosmic-dust analog materials in microgravity conditions, are summarized. The discussion covers the purpose of the investigation, cosmic-dust formation and properties, previous simulations of cosmic-dust formation, the current approach, the microgravity experimental apparatus, and potential advantages of studying dust formation under microgravity conditions.

Description: It has been suggested that gamma-ray burst light curves may consist of many superposed flares with a duration shorter than 30/microsec. If true, the implications for the interpretation of burst data are enormous. With the launch of the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, four predictions of Mitrofanov's (1989) suggestion can be tested. Our results which contradict this suggestion are (1) the photon arrival times are not correlated between independent detectors, (2) the spectral hardness and intensity does not depend on the detector area, (3) the bursts seen by detectors which measure photon positions do not see microsecond flares, and (4) burst positions deduced from detectors with different projected areas are close to the positions deduced from time-of-flight differences between separated spacecraft. We conclude, therefore, that gamma-ray bursts are not composed of microsecond flares.

Description: The 1(10)-1(11) transition of ortho-H2D(+) at 372 GHz has been sought in several dark clouds. The transition was not detected; the best upper limits obtained are about 0.3 K (3 sigma). We derive upper limits for the ortho-H2D(+) column density and briefly discuss their meaning in comparison with a simple chemical model we have developed (Pagani et al., 1992).

Description: Observations of the SMC using the Energetic Gamma Ray Experimental Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Observatory are reported. The findings yield an upper limit for gamma-ray emission above 100 MeV of 0.5 x 10 exp -7 photon/sq cm s. The expected flux if the cosmic rays (CR) are universal rather than Galactic in origin is (2.4 +/- 0.5) x 10 exp -7 photon/sq cm s, only a third of which arises from cosmic ray electron interactions. Thus, the bulk of the CR energy density is almost certainly neither metagalactic nor universal, but Galactic in origin. The results add to the evidence that the SMC is in a nonequilibrium state and indicate that the LMC is most likely in quasi-stable equilibrium, with a CR energy density near the maximum that can be contained.