Galactic archaeology: a radial velocity experiment to unveil the history of the Milky Way. The goal of the international RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) survey is to measure velocities and chemical properties of 500,000 stars, using the Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory; the survey was conceived by Australians and involves astronomers from 10 countries. This is the basic information that we need to understand how the Milky Way formed and evolved.
A survey of the interstellar medium in the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder. Between the stars in the Milky Way there are clouds of gas and dust; old stars eject heavy elements into this interstellar medium, and new stars form when interstellar clouds collapse under their own gravity. This survey is making maps of the interstellar gas using spectral lines at radio wavelengths to trace the cycle of star formation.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101270
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$319,109.00
Summary
Tracing the evolution of high-mass stars: combining maser evolutionary timelines with chemical clocks. Maser emission (radio analogue of lasers) arises naturally in the dense gas surrounding young, large stars. Studying many types of masers towards lots of sources will allow us to uncover the precise stages of star formation that each maser species is tracing. Such a timeline promises to be an important tool in determining how these big stars form.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100639
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$333,242.00
Summary
Defining the dynamic magnetised Milky Way. Without understanding how the Milky Way works, it is incredibly difficult to understand the evolution and structure of more distant galaxies. This research will show how the pieces of our Galaxy, including the impact of the mysterious force of magnetism, fit together and move around in space, defining a new image of the Milky Way.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100851
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$323,000.00
Summary
Stellar populations in Globular Clusters: insights in to Galaxy assembly. This project aims to advance our knowledge of globular clusters. The study of the newly discovered generations of stars in globular clusters constitutes a modern branch of stellar and galactic astrophysics. The project plans to provide a chemical characterisation of the multiple stellar populations present in globular clusters, and explore the nature of these ancient stellar systems and their possible connection with dwarf ....Stellar populations in Globular Clusters: insights in to Galaxy assembly. This project aims to advance our knowledge of globular clusters. The study of the newly discovered generations of stars in globular clusters constitutes a modern branch of stellar and galactic astrophysics. The project plans to provide a chemical characterisation of the multiple stellar populations present in globular clusters, and explore the nature of these ancient stellar systems and their possible connection with dwarf galaxies. The outcome of this research may help us understand the formation mechanisms of the Milky Way and the contribution of globular clusters to the galactic halo assembly, and may open unexpected solutions for the ‘missing satellites problem’ – the lack of low-mass galaxies compared to the predictions of the Big Bang model.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101816
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$333,000.00
Summary
A survey of the Milky Way building blocks with the Hubble Space Telescope. Recent studies have resulted in one of the most exciting and unexpected developments in stellar-population studies: the discovery of multiple stellar generations in globular clusters. These findings have dramatically changed the traditional picture of these seemingly simple stellar systems and provided evidence that the globulars are building blocks of the Galactic halo. The Hubble Space Telescope is in the process of col ....A survey of the Milky Way building blocks with the Hubble Space Telescope. Recent studies have resulted in one of the most exciting and unexpected developments in stellar-population studies: the discovery of multiple stellar generations in globular clusters. These findings have dramatically changed the traditional picture of these seemingly simple stellar systems and provided evidence that the globulars are building blocks of the Galactic halo. The Hubble Space Telescope is in the process of collecting a large amount of data as part of the first survey of multiple generations in globular clusters. The project is based on this unique dataset and aims to provide a major advance to understand the origin and the evolution of globular clusters, as well as the formation mechanisms that build the Milky Way.Read moreRead less
Galactic seismology: a new window on Milky Way's evolution. This project aims to investigate how the Milky Way responds to the passage of a small dwarf galaxy through its plane. This is motivated by the observational discovery of largescale waves crossing the Milky Way disc, and by new related supercomputer simulations. The project expects to generate new knowledge in this field, based on further supercomputer simulations and comparison of the predictions with new data from the Gaia space missio ....Galactic seismology: a new window on Milky Way's evolution. This project aims to investigate how the Milky Way responds to the passage of a small dwarf galaxy through its plane. This is motivated by the observational discovery of largescale waves crossing the Milky Way disc, and by new related supercomputer simulations. The project expects to generate new knowledge in this field, based on further supercomputer simulations and comparison of the predictions with new data from the Gaia space mission. Expected outcomes of the project include a demonstration of the diagnostic power of this new seismological approach to galaxy evolution. The project promises significant benefits in the form of establishing Australia as a leader in Galactic seismology, as it is in the field of Galactic archaeology.
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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
Exploiting SkyMapper for Galactic Astrophysics. The SkyMapper telescope will commence a digital imaging survey of the entire southern hemisphere sky in the second quarter of 2014. This project aims to exploit the SkyMapper survey data to discover and characterise the oldest and most metal-poor stars in our Galaxy, constraining both the origin of the chemical elements and the star formation processes that occurred during the initial stages of our Galaxy's formation. At the same time the project w ....Exploiting SkyMapper for Galactic Astrophysics. The SkyMapper telescope will commence a digital imaging survey of the entire southern hemisphere sky in the second quarter of 2014. This project aims to exploit the SkyMapper survey data to discover and characterise the oldest and most metal-poor stars in our Galaxy, constraining both the origin of the chemical elements and the star formation processes that occurred during the initial stages of our Galaxy's formation. At the same time the project will use SkyMapper and other imaging data to increase understanding of the formation of the Galactic halo and of our nearest galaxy neighbours, the Magellanic Clouds.Read moreRead less