NGC 628 is a nearby, face on spiral galaxy with well defined spiral arms. As part of this project, you will (1) Cross-correlate the star clusters from the LEGUS catalog with the SIGNALS HII region catalog and (2) Compare the age, size, and morphology of the star clusters with the size and extent of the HII regions.

This project aims to push laser tracking of space debris to a new level by using an ultra-fast Adaptive Optics system and a Laser Guide Star.

This high-performance AO system is designed to overcome atmospheric turbulence which otherwise distorts images captured by a ground-based telescope.

The Gemini High Resolution Optical SpecTrograph (GHOST) will be a new instrument from 2019 for the 8m Gemini South telescope in Chile.

The project is supported by the federal government's Australian Space Research Program (ASRP) and will use small-satellite technology provide a new communications infrastructure.

Ambitious students will investigate optimal ways to measure the stellar properties (eg Teff, age, mass) and chemical composition of this immense amount of data.

The Australian Plasma Thruster (APT) will help deep-space probes travel for longer and further into space and be used to de-orbit satellites at the end of their lifetimes. The engine of the thruster will be based on ANU Professor Christine Charles's Helicon Double Layer Thruster (HDLT), which is the first of its kind in the world.

The Computational Astrophysics Laboratory, or COALA, is a high-performance computing (HPC) system that is available to theorists and astronomers at RSAA. It is used for data analysis, numerical simulations, visualisation for public outreach, and for research training at the school.

The Gemini High Resolution Optical SpecTrograph (GHOST) will be a new instrument from 2019 for the 8m Gemini South telescope in Chile.

Data archives

Dust in the Milky Way affects astronomical observations. Here we try too improve our knowledge of its distribution.

In this project you will develop use and further develop the Chronostar tool to identify thousands of previously unknown young stars near the sun - ideal targets for future exoplanet detection campaigns.

Even from our telescopes on the tops of high mountains, the Earth’s atmosphere blurs observations reducing their clarity.

Fyris Alpha is a high resolution, shock capturing, multi-phase, up-wind Godunov method hydrodynamics code, which includes a variable equation of state, and optional microphysics such as cooling, gravity and mutlitple tracer variables. 

NIFS is a near-infrared integral-field spectrometer that was designed and built by the RSAA for the 8m Gemini North telescope in Hawaii.