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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
Cosmic Renaissance: The Last Chance for Planet Formation Around Dying Stars. This project will generate a novel model where planets emerge from gas expelled during interactions between dying stars, rather than forming around young stars. It relies on unique multi-wavelength, high-angular resolution observations of planet-forming disks around dying stars and simulations of disk formation. This research will provide unprecedented insight into the uncertain process of planet formation around young ....Cosmic Renaissance: The Last Chance for Planet Formation Around Dying Stars. This project will generate a novel model where planets emerge from gas expelled during interactions between dying stars, rather than forming around young stars. It relies on unique multi-wavelength, high-angular resolution observations of planet-forming disks around dying stars and simulations of disk formation. This research will provide unprecedented insight into the uncertain process of planet formation around young stars and inform future space exploration missions. The project's benefits include generating new knowledge, enhancing Australia's reputation in stellar and planetary astrophysics, inspiring STEM interest, and training researchers in machine/deep learning and hydrodynamic modelling - valuable skills for academia and industry.Read moreRead less
Imaging the youngest planets. Over 5000 exoplanets have been discovered, demonstrating that planet formation is a robust and widespread process. But we do not know how these planets, including those in our solar system, formed. Our group at Monash pioneered a new technique for detecting "baby" planets --- observed still embedded in the disc of gas and dust from which they are born. The project aims to characterise the youngest detected exoplanets with the world's largest telescopes, including ....Imaging the youngest planets. Over 5000 exoplanets have been discovered, demonstrating that planet formation is a robust and widespread process. But we do not know how these planets, including those in our solar system, formed. Our group at Monash pioneered a new technique for detecting "baby" planets --- observed still embedded in the disc of gas and dust from which they are born. The project aims to characterise the youngest detected exoplanets with the world's largest telescopes, including time already awarded on the James Webb Space Telescope. We will image these planets, and model their birth in 3D. The project will develop state of the art computer algorithms for simulating fluid flow and data analysis technics that can be applied to problems here on Earth. Read moreRead less
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
A golden age of stellar astrophysics with Kepler. The project will use observations from NASA's Kepler space telescope to study oscillations in the stars via careful analysis of changes in their brightness. The observations will reveal the properties of the stars and their planets in unprecedented detail.
Dynamic stars: atmospheres, evolution and asteroseismology. By developing state-of-the-art stellar atmosphere and evolution models, the project will endeavour to answer some of the key outstanding questions in stellar astrophysics including how magnetic fields are manifested in stars, how stars are affected by convection, how oscillations are excited in stars and how old the most ancient stars in the Milky Way are. The project will endeavour to make obsolete the free parameters that have hampere ....Dynamic stars: atmospheres, evolution and asteroseismology. By developing state-of-the-art stellar atmosphere and evolution models, the project will endeavour to answer some of the key outstanding questions in stellar astrophysics including how magnetic fields are manifested in stars, how stars are affected by convection, how oscillations are excited in stars and how old the most ancient stars in the Milky Way are. The project will endeavour to make obsolete the free parameters that have hampered stellar modelling for the past half-century. Using unique stellar models the project aims to provide rich legacy resources for countless studies in modern astronomy and provide the necessary theoretical underpinning for ambitious Australian-led Milky Way surveys, such as GALAH and SkyMapper, and international satellite missions such as Kepler, TESS and PLATO.Read moreRead less
Galactic archaeology — fossil evidence of how our Galaxy's disk formed. The vast stellar content of our Galaxy contains the fossil imprints of how it was formed. The current model for galaxy formation, the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm, is that they have built up over billions of years by the merging of smaller systems, but cosmological simulations fail to reproduce the key properties of individual galaxies. The predicted high level of merger activity makes it very difficult to form galaxies l ....Galactic archaeology — fossil evidence of how our Galaxy's disk formed. The vast stellar content of our Galaxy contains the fossil imprints of how it was formed. The current model for galaxy formation, the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm, is that they have built up over billions of years by the merging of smaller systems, but cosmological simulations fail to reproduce the key properties of individual galaxies. The predicted high level of merger activity makes it very difficult to form galaxies like our own. This is the key stumbling block to progress at the present time. The project aims to assess observationally how important mergers have been in the formation of the Galaxy, the critical test of CDM. The project will target the stars in the Galactic disk and bulge with the HERMES wide-field spectrograph.Read moreRead less
The Occurrence of Cold Planets in the Galaxy. The project aims to explore a unique niche in exoplanet detection: searches for cold planets down to Earth mass, including ice giants and rogue free-floating planets. Infrared cameras and adaptive optics on large telescopes will be used to make accurate measurements of cold planets in diverse galactic environments. These are significant because they are completely different from most known exoplanets, being far from their host stars and unique probes ....The Occurrence of Cold Planets in the Galaxy. The project aims to explore a unique niche in exoplanet detection: searches for cold planets down to Earth mass, including ice giants and rogue free-floating planets. Infrared cameras and adaptive optics on large telescopes will be used to make accurate measurements of cold planets in diverse galactic environments. These are significant because they are completely different from most known exoplanets, being far from their host stars and unique probes of planet formation theory. Expected outcomes are a greatly improved understanding of planet formation, and improved techniques for cold planet detection with gravitational microlensing. The project will strongly benefit the next generation space-based programs planned for the next decade.Read moreRead less
Tracing the accretion history of the Milky Way with chemical tagging. This project aims to investigate how important the capture of satellite galaxies is for the growth of large galaxies like the Milky Way. This project’s method will identify stars from other galaxies long after they have been captured by the Milky Way, using only chemical compositions to identify stars with extragalactic origins, in contrast to previous methods, which only work for a relatively short time after a smaller galax ....Tracing the accretion history of the Milky Way with chemical tagging. This project aims to investigate how important the capture of satellite galaxies is for the growth of large galaxies like the Milky Way. This project’s method will identify stars from other galaxies long after they have been captured by the Milky Way, using only chemical compositions to identify stars with extragalactic origins, in contrast to previous methods, which only work for a relatively short time after a smaller galaxy’s capture. The accreted stars identified this way will give a more complete picture of how the Milky Way has grown over time, and their properties and orbits in the Milky Way will illuminate the characteristics of the galaxies from which they were captured.Read moreRead less