Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE120100181
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$650,000.00
Summary
Strengthening merit-based access and support at the new National Computing Infrastructure petascale supercomputing facility. World-leading high-performance computing is fundamental to Australia's international research success. This facility will provide access to the new National Computational Infrastructure facility by world-leading researchers from six research universities, and sustain ground-breaking work in an increasingly competitive environment.
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.
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 mass function of stars at birth. This project aims to answer three questions surrounding the birth of stars: What determines the mass of stars when they are born in our Galaxy, the so-called Initial Mass Function (IMF)? How does the IMF depend on the physical properties of the gas cloud in which stars form? By what amount do outflows and jets reduce the mean stellar mass and determine the shape of the IMF? It is expected that the project will generate the most realistic computer simulations ....The mass function of stars at birth. This project aims to answer three questions surrounding the birth of stars: What determines the mass of stars when they are born in our Galaxy, the so-called Initial Mass Function (IMF)? How does the IMF depend on the physical properties of the gas cloud in which stars form? By what amount do outflows and jets reduce the mean stellar mass and determine the shape of the IMF? It is expected that the project will generate the most realistic computer simulations of the formation of star clusters to date, with relevance to galaxy formation and evolution. The simulations may also provide the initial conditions for understanding exo-planet formation.Read moreRead less