Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100150
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$459,000.00
Summary
How galactic mergers and their stellar survivors shaped our Milky Way. This project aims to investigate the role of mergers with smaller galaxies in shaping the Milky Way by developing tools to identify stellar survivors of mergers. This project expects to produce an all-sky map of stellar survivors based on the largest search within Australian and international survey data and perform innovative comparisons with simulations to constrain the role of mergers. Expected outcomes are aligned with th ....How galactic mergers and their stellar survivors shaped our Milky Way. This project aims to investigate the role of mergers with smaller galaxies in shaping the Milky Way by developing tools to identify stellar survivors of mergers. This project expects to produce an all-sky map of stellar survivors based on the largest search within Australian and international survey data and perform innovative comparisons with simulations to constrain the role of mergers. Expected outcomes are aligned with the decadal plan for Australian astronomy and can open new avenues for global astronomy and contracts for upcoming billion-dollar surveys. The project should cement Australia’s role as a leader in a new era of galactic exploration and provide benefits beyond astronomy by training Australians to assess complex big data.Read moreRead less
Lifting the Veil on Cold Planets in the Inner Galaxy. The project aims to explore a unique aspect of exoplanet detection: searches for cold planets of Earth mass and larger in the densest stellar fields of the inner Milky Way. Infrared cameras will be used to detect small planets in this extreme galactic environment. The proposed project will open a new era of infrared microlensing observations from the ground and supply critical data in preparation for the next generation of microlensing from s ....Lifting the Veil on Cold Planets in the Inner Galaxy. The project aims to explore a unique aspect of exoplanet detection: searches for cold planets of Earth mass and larger in the densest stellar fields of the inner Milky Way. Infrared cameras will be used to detect small planets in this extreme galactic environment. The proposed project will open a new era of infrared microlensing observations from the ground and supply critical data in preparation for the next generation of microlensing from space. This work directly links to the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope (2026 launch) Galactic Exoplanet Survey. Expected outcomes are a greatly improved understanding of planet formation down to terrestrial-mass planets, and improved techniques for cold planet detection with gravitational microlensing. Read moreRead less
Star Formation Through Cosmic Time. This project aims to determine how turbulence and magnetic fields control the formation of stars. This is crucial to understand the formation of galaxies, planets and ultimately life. The expected outcomes are the most detailed simulations of star formation in the early Universe and in galaxies today. This project has the potential to transform our understanding of cosmic structure formation, providing crucial input for Australian and international facilities ....Star Formation Through Cosmic Time. This project aims to determine how turbulence and magnetic fields control the formation of stars. This is crucial to understand the formation of galaxies, planets and ultimately life. The expected outcomes are the most detailed simulations of star formation in the early Universe and in galaxies today. This project has the potential to transform our understanding of cosmic structure formation, providing crucial input for Australian and international facilities and surveys, and models of galaxy, star and planet formation. Training Australia's future generation of Big Data analysts, as well as the development of interdisciplinary tools involving Chemical Modelling, Plasma Physics, Statistics and High Performance Computing are key benefits.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL220100117
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,497,216.00
Summary
How Old Are The Stars? Looking Inside Stars with Asteroseismology. Stars are the building blocks of the Universe. Understanding their structure and evolution underpins much of modern astrophysics, from characterising the growing number of extra-solar planets to unravelling the history of our Milky Way Galaxy. This research program will use the technique of asteroseismology, the study of starquakes, to probe the interiors of stars in extraordinary detail and measure their ages with unprecedented ....How Old Are The Stars? Looking Inside Stars with Asteroseismology. Stars are the building blocks of the Universe. Understanding their structure and evolution underpins much of modern astrophysics, from characterising the growing number of extra-solar planets to unravelling the history of our Milky Way Galaxy. This research program will use the technique of asteroseismology, the study of starquakes, to probe the interiors of stars in extraordinary detail and measure their ages with unprecedented precision. Having accurate ages for large numbers of stars will help us understand how the Milky Way galaxy formed and developed. We will generate a deep understanding of the processes that occur inside stars, mentor a new generation of researchers and establish Australia as a world leader in stellar astrophysics.Read moreRead less
The Dark-side of the Milky Way. Astronomers have long sought to determine the 3-dimensional structure of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, with limited success owing to its immense size and obscuration by dust at optical wavelengths. We know more about structure of tens of thousands of other galaxies than we do about the structure of the Milky Way on the far-side of the Galactic Centre. This program will use Australian infrastructure to make the most accurate distance measurements to date of the far-si ....The Dark-side of the Milky Way. Astronomers have long sought to determine the 3-dimensional structure of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, with limited success owing to its immense size and obscuration by dust at optical wavelengths. We know more about structure of tens of thousands of other galaxies than we do about the structure of the Milky Way on the far-side of the Galactic Centre. This program will use Australian infrastructure to make the most accurate distance measurements to date of the far-side of the Milky Way visible from the Southern hemisphere, completing the 3-dimensional picture of our Galaxy. These results will be leveraged to yield accurate distances, providing fundamental information on the stellar masses, luminosities, and ages.Read moreRead less