
Research projects
Discover the forefront of astronomy and astrophysics through our projects, ranging from deep-space communication systems to groundbreaking adaptive optics. Explore our diverse, ongoing research initiatives shaping the future of space science.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 project(s).
This project has two components: developing the science case for the instrument, defining the mission parameters that are necessary to ensure the science goals are achieved; and, for a student so inclined, physically building the telescope and camera system.
Theme
- Instrumentation
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
- Structure and evolution of the Cosmos
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, PhD students
People
- Associate Professor Bradley Tucker, Supervisor
- Dr Joice Mathew, Supervisor
This project has two components: developing the science case for the instrument, defining the mission parameters that are necessary to ensure the science goals are achieved; and, for a student so inclined, physically building the telescope and camera system.
Theme
- Instrumentation
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
- Structure and evolution of the Cosmos
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, PhD students
People
- Associate Professor Bradley Tucker, Supervisor
- Dr Joice Mathew, Supervisor
Ambitious students will investigate optimal ways to measure the stellar properties (eg Teff, age, mass) and chemical composition of this immense amount of data.
Theme
- Galactic archaeology
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
Measuring asteroid properties with the Kepler Space Telescope to find Future Asteroid Mining Targets
Theme
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, PhD students
Observatory
People
- Associate Professor Bradley Tucker, Supervisor
Study of the statistics of turbulent, magnetised gases, relevant for the structure and evolution of the interstellar medium, the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies, using a combination of supercomputer simulations, theory, analytical calculations, and comparison to observations.
Theme
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
- Structure and evolution of the Cosmos
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, PhD students
Observatory
People
- Professor Christoph Federrath, Supervisor
Ultraviolet photometry has revealed that young open clusters in the Milky Way display extended main sequence turn-off in the colour magnitude diagram.
Theme
- Galactic archaeology
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours students
People
- Associate Professor Luca Casagrande, Supervisor
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.
Theme
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
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.
Theme
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
Accreted stellar populations are comprised of the remnants of destroyed galaxies, and often dominate the 'stellar haloes' of galaxies such as the Milky Way.
Theme
- Galactic archaeology
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours students
People
- Associate Professor Luca Casagrande, Supervisor
The SkyMapper Transient (SMT) Survey is a currently searching and studying supernovae and other transient sources in southern sky.
Theme
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
In this project, you will lead development of a key sub system (optical, mechanical, computational) to enable novel ultra-high resolution, visible light instrument Pyxis: a prototype for an astrophysical space interferometer.
Theme
- Instrumentation
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, PhD students
People
- Associate Professor Tony Travouillon, Supervisor
- Professor Michael Ireland, Supervisor
In this project, you will lead development of a key sub system (optical, mechanical, computational) to enable novel ultra-high resolution, visible light instrument Pyxis: a prototype for an astrophysical space interferometer.
Theme
- Instrumentation
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, PhD students
People
- Associate Professor Tony Travouillon, Supervisor
- Professor Michael Ireland, Supervisor
Blue stragglers are main-sequence stars that are more luminous and bluer than stars of the same age, and their existence has long defied standard stellar evolution.
Theme
- Galactic archaeology
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours students
People
- Associate Professor Luca Casagrande, Supervisor
In this project, the idea would be to combine the publicly available GALAH and APOGEE spectra and analyse them together: We should be able to measure up to 40 different elements from hundreds of lines and provide the community with reference values.
Theme
- Galactic archaeology
- Stellar and planetary astronomy
Stellar spectra capture the light of a star across multiple wavelengths and include absorption features of numerous atoms and molecules from a star’s photosphere. The abundance data many stars then allow us to study the chemical evolution across large scales in our Galaxy and decipher Galactic trends.
Theme
- Galactic archaeology
- Stellar and planetary astronomy