The next wave of asteroseismic discovery using NASA’s TESS mission. This project aims to make advances in astrophysics by capitalising on NASA’s upcoming Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission and recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. Through an innovative approach to analyse big datasets, the project expects to generate new knowledge in the key areas of planet formation, stellar structure, and the Galaxy’s evolution. Outcomes include strong international links to leadin ....The next wave of asteroseismic discovery using NASA’s TESS mission. This project aims to make advances in astrophysics by capitalising on NASA’s upcoming Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission and recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. Through an innovative approach to analyse big datasets, the project expects to generate new knowledge in the key areas of planet formation, stellar structure, and the Galaxy’s evolution. Outcomes include strong international links to leading institutions and enhanced capacity for Australia to be part of cutting-edge space exploration. The methods and skills developed by the project should provide significant benefits to other data-driven sciences and help build smarter business models and improved decision making in industry and government in our increasingly data-dependent economy.Read moreRead less
Adolescent stars and planets in our neighbourhood from Gaia and FunnelWeb. This project aims to understand how infant stars in their stellar nurseries reach adulthood in the Galactic disk, and link stellar birth to the presence and evolution of adolescent planetary systems. The billion dollar Gaia satellite will change the study of stellar adolescence, with data beginning to flow with an initial public release this year. FunnelWeb – the largest star survey of its kind, covering the entire Southe ....Adolescent stars and planets in our neighbourhood from Gaia and FunnelWeb. This project aims to understand how infant stars in their stellar nurseries reach adulthood in the Galactic disk, and link stellar birth to the presence and evolution of adolescent planetary systems. The billion dollar Gaia satellite will change the study of stellar adolescence, with data beginning to flow with an initial public release this year. FunnelWeb – the largest star survey of its kind, covering the entire Southern sky – will augment this data. This project will combine these datasets, identifying the birthplace of the majority of nearby adolescent stars in the Southern sky and helping to discover and characterise their planetary systems. The results relating to the origin and Galactic context of our solar system are of broad public interest.Read moreRead less
The Great Escape: The Gaseous Outflow from the Centre of the Milky Way. This project aims to increase our understanding of the workings of the central regions of galaxies. The nuclei of galaxies are galactic-scale powerhouses driven by fast-moving winds launched by either the active bursts of star formation in the galaxy’s core or the accretion of gas onto a central black hole more than a million times the mass of the Sun. In 2010, the Fermi space telescope discovered enormous bubbles filled wit ....The Great Escape: The Gaseous Outflow from the Centre of the Milky Way. This project aims to increase our understanding of the workings of the central regions of galaxies. The nuclei of galaxies are galactic-scale powerhouses driven by fast-moving winds launched by either the active bursts of star formation in the galaxy’s core or the accretion of gas onto a central black hole more than a million times the mass of the Sun. In 2010, the Fermi space telescope discovered enormous bubbles filled with hot gas emanating from the centre of the Milky Way, proof of a Galactic wind. Our Galaxy's wind offers the best laboratory in the universe for understanding what drives the powerhouses at the nuclei of normal galaxies. This project aims to determine whether the Milky Way’s nuclear wind and the Fermi bubbles were formed from a starburst wind or gas accretion onto the central black hole.Read moreRead less
Disentangling the origin and evolution of the tangled magellanic stream. This project aims to reveal the process of gaseous accretion in interacting galaxies by elucidating the origin and evolution of the Magellanic Stream. The Magellanic Stream is an enormous tail of hydrogen gas extending from the Magellanic Clouds almost fully around the Milky Way. Through unravelling the Magellanic Stream and revealing how it will impact the Milky Way, this project will help understand how galaxies receive n ....Disentangling the origin and evolution of the tangled magellanic stream. This project aims to reveal the process of gaseous accretion in interacting galaxies by elucidating the origin and evolution of the Magellanic Stream. The Magellanic Stream is an enormous tail of hydrogen gas extending from the Magellanic Clouds almost fully around the Milky Way. Through unravelling the Magellanic Stream and revealing how it will impact the Milky Way, this project will help understand how galaxies receive new gas to continue their star formation and very existence. The project will use the newly constructed Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder to shed light on the question of how galaxies evolve, one of the highest priority questions in Australian Astrophysics as defined by the Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan.Read moreRead less
The scale and structure of the Milky Way. This project aims to use new Australian infrastructure to make the most accurate distance measurements to date in the southern Milky Way, completing the three-dimensional picture of our Galaxy. Australia's international standing in astronomy has led to it being one of the host countries for the square kilometre array project, which will bring significant economic and technological benefits to the country. This project builds upon Australia's astronomical ....The scale and structure of the Milky Way. This project aims to use new Australian infrastructure to make the most accurate distance measurements to date in the southern Milky Way, completing the three-dimensional picture of our Galaxy. Australia's international standing in astronomy has led to it being one of the host countries for the square kilometre array project, which will bring significant economic and technological benefits to the country. This project builds upon Australia's astronomical expertise and will provide the most accurate picture to date of the Milky Way. Astronomy provides unique opportunities for engaging the community in discussions of science and society and inspires students to study STEM subjects.Read moreRead less
Advancing and applying stellar nucleosynthesis: using stars to probe galaxies. The project will determine how the lives of stars produce the elements that make up our world, and use this knowledge to look into how our galaxy formed. The project will use the latest results from super-computer studies as well as new instruments being built for Australia's largest optical telescope.
Dark gas and the formation of molecular clouds. Using frontline radio telescopes in Australia, Chile and Antarctica the project aims to understand how molecular clouds are formed in space, a part of the life cycle of our galaxy, and the role of hard-to-detect 'dark gas' in this process. Australia's Mopra telescope plays a central role in this international endeavour.
Ultra-faint signatures of galaxy growth seen through the cosmic haze. This project aims to uncover the cosmic cannibalism of galaxy mergers, by using innovative new instrumentation to detect some of the faintest structures ever seen by astronomers. The project will provide a comprehensive measurement of the mass growth experienced by large galaxies consuming their smaller siblings, which will provide a critical test of our understanding of dark matter. The project will also conduct ultra-high-se ....Ultra-faint signatures of galaxy growth seen through the cosmic haze. This project aims to uncover the cosmic cannibalism of galaxy mergers, by using innovative new instrumentation to detect some of the faintest structures ever seen by astronomers. The project will provide a comprehensive measurement of the mass growth experienced by large galaxies consuming their smaller siblings, which will provide a critical test of our understanding of dark matter. The project will also conduct ultra-high-sensitivity measurements of the foreground haze from nearby interstellar clouds, a crucial step towards mitigating its impact on billion-dollar projects such as the Euclid space telescope. The statistics of spatial structures in these clouds will help us to understand how new stars are born in our own Milky Way.Read moreRead less
SkyMapper and the Southern Sky Survey. The Southern Sky Survey is the first digital imaging survey of the entire southern hemisphere sky. The resulting information on a billion stellar and galaxy images underpins a number of significant national science programs of international prominence. These include the discovery of the oldest stars in our galaxy, fossils from its formation.
Mapping the nearest habitable planetary systems with FunnelWeb and Veloce. This project aims to address questions of whether Earth is a uniquely habitable environment in the Universe. Within just a few years, we will discover the best planets to target in humanity's search for life outside our Solar System. Likely to be found orbiting low-mass M-dwarf stars, these planets will be the focus of bio-signature space missions for decades. Understanding how common these habitable M-dwarf planets are r ....Mapping the nearest habitable planetary systems with FunnelWeb and Veloce. This project aims to address questions of whether Earth is a uniquely habitable environment in the Universe. Within just a few years, we will discover the best planets to target in humanity's search for life outside our Solar System. Likely to be found orbiting low-mass M-dwarf stars, these planets will be the focus of bio-signature space missions for decades. Understanding how common these habitable M-dwarf planets are requires a comprehensive model for how the whole population of M-dwarf planets formed and evolved. This project will use new Australian facilities, FunnelWeb and Veloce, to map that broader landscape for M-dwarfs and their planets, and so deliver the critical context needed to interpret the coming wave of habitable planet discoveries.Read moreRead less