The binary neutron star merger event GW170817 was detected through both electromagnetic radiation and gravitational waves. Its afterglow emission may have been produced by either a narrow relativistic jet or an isotropic outflow. High-spatial-resolution measurements of the source size and displacement can discriminate between these scenarios. We present very-long-baseline interferometry observations, performed 207.4 days after the merger by using a global network of 32 radio telescopes. The apparent source size is constrained to be smaller than 2.5 milli–arc seconds at the 90% confidence level. This excludes the isotropic outflow scenario, which would have produced a larger apparent size, indicating that GW170817 produced a structured relativistic jet. Our rate calculations show that at least 10% of neutron star mergers produce such a jet.

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We present a new sample of compact steep spectrum (CSS) sources with radio luminosity below 1026 W Hz−1 at 1.4 GHz; these are called low‐luminosity compact (LLC) objects. The sources have been selected from the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty‐cm (FIRST) survey and observed with the multi‐element radio linked interferometer network (MERLIN) at the L and C bands. The main criterion used for selection was the luminosity of the objects, and approximately one‐third of the CSS sources from the new sample have a value of radio luminosity comparable to Fanaroff–Riley type 1 sources (FR Is). About 80 per cent of the sources have been resolved and about 30 per cent have weak extended emission and disturbed structures when compared with the observations of higher‐luminosity CSS sources. We have studied the correlation between radio power and linear size, and the redshift with a larger sample that also included published samples of compact objects and large‐scale FR IIs and FR Is. In the radio power versus linear size diagram, the LLC objects occupy the space below the main evolutionary path of radio objects. We suggest that many of these might be short‐lived objects, and their radio emission may be disrupted several times before they become FR IIs. We conclude that there exists a large population of short‐lived LLC objects unexplored so far, and some of these could be precursors to large‐scale FR Is.

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We study the mid-egress eclipse timing data gathered for the cataclysmic binary HU Aquarii during the years 1993-2014. The (O-C) residuals were previously attributed to a single ∼ 7 Jupiter mass companion in ∼ 5 au orbit or to a stable 2-planet system with an unconstrained outermost orbit. We present 22 new observations gathered between June, 2011 and July, 2014 with four instruments around the world. They reveal a systematic deviation of ∼ 60-120 seconds from the older ephemeris. We re-analyse the whole set of the timing data available. Our results provide an erratum to the previous HU Aqr planetary models, indicating that the hypothesis for a third and fourth body in this system is uncertain. The dynamical stability criterion and a particular geometry of orbits rule out coplanar 2-planet configurations. A putative HU Aqr planetary system may be more complex, e.g., highly non-coplanar. Indeed, we found examples of 3-planet configurations with the middle planet in a retrograde orbit, which are stable for at least 1 Gyr, and consistent with the observations. The (O-C) may be also driven by oscillations of the gravitational quadrupole moment of the secondary, as predicted by the Lanza et al. modification of the Applegate mechanism. Further systematic, long-term monitoring of HU Aqr is required to interpret the (O-C) residuals.

The so-called HYbrid MOrphology Radio Sources (HYMORS) are a class of objects that appear to have a mixed Fanaroff-Riley (FR) morphology in a single object; i.e. a HYMORS has an FR I-type lobe on one side of its nucleus and an FR II-type lobe on the other side. Because of this unique feature and given that the origin of the FR morphological dichotomy is still unclear, HYMORS may possibly play a crucial role in our understanding of the FR-dichotomy. As the number of known HYMORS is quite small, we aimed to increase that number by inspecting a few areas of the sky covered by the VLA FIRST survey and by selecting 21 HYMORS candidates based on the morphology shown in the FIRST images. They were observed with the VLA in B-conf. at 4.9 GHz. Three objects from the initial sample turned out to be actual HYMORS and two others very likely to fulfill the criteria. These five were subsequently re-observed with the VLA in A-conf. at 1.4 GHz. Our results provide strong support to the findings of Gopal-Krishna & Wiita (2000, A&A, 363, 507), namely that there are two different kinds of jets in HYMORS; consequently, the existence of FR-dichotomy as a whole is difficult to reconcile with the class of explanations that posit fundamental differences in the central engine.

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Methanol and water vapour masers are signposts of early stages of high-mass star formation but it is generally thought that due to different excitation processes they probe distinct parts of stellar environments. Here we present observations of the intermediatemass young stellar object G107.298+5.639, revealing for the first time that 34.4 d flares of the 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission alternate with flares of individual features of the 22 GHz water maser. High angular resolution data reveal that a few components of both maser species showing periodic behaviour coincide in position and velocity and all the periodic water maser components appear in the methanol maser region of size of 360 au. The maser flares could be caused by variations in the infrared radiation field induced by cyclic accretion instabilities in a circumstellar or protobinary disc. The observations do not support either the stellar pulsations or the seed photon flux variations as the underlying mechanisms of the periodicity in the source.