Benjamin Lowe

Ben Lowe
PhD Student
BSc (University of Canterbury, New Zealand), BSc with 1st Class Hons (University of Canterbury, New Zealand), MSc with Distinction (University of Canterbury, New Zealand)
call 59645

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About

I’m a PhD student at the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU). I received my Honours degree (with first class) in Astronomy at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) in 2022, then my Masters (with distinction) also at the University of Cantebury in 2023.  

Alongside research, I’m a senior outreacher at Mt Stromlo Observatory, and a support astronomer at Siding Spring Observatory. Outside of research, you can find me either in the bouldering gym or hiking in the mountains.

Affiliations

Research interests

I’m currently interested in understanding why old metal-poor stars are present in the disk of the Milky Way Galaxy, a region normally only associated with young and middle-aged stars. I utilise Gaia XP data, where I preselect disk metal-poor stars, then conduct follow-up studies with the 2dF-AAOmega instrument. Interesting stars are then observed with X-Shooter to get detailed chemical abundances. 

Previous interests include investigating highly-magnetic chemically peculiar Ap/Bp stars, and frequency-analysis of variable stars. 

Location

Duffield - Lower - D0.10