Research 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. Keywords Academic - Any -Associate Professor Christian WolfAssociate Professor Emily WisnioskiAssociate Professor Francis BennetAssociate Professor François RigautAssociate Professor Luca CasagrandeAssociate Professor Tony TravouillonDr Amit SetaDr Andrew BattistiDr Bradley TuckerDr Cameron Van EckDr Craig AndersonDr Doris GrosseDr Hiep NguyenDr Israel VaughnDr Jesse CranneyDr Joice MathewDr Kathryn GrashaDr Marc WhiteDr Melissa NessDr Michael CopelandDr Noelia Martinez ReyDr Roland CrockerDr Sven BuderDr Thomas NordlanderDr Trevor Mendel Elisa JagerMr David BrodrickProfessor Anna MooreProfessor Brian SchmidtProfessor Céline d'OrgevilleProfessor Chris LidmanProfessor Christoph FederrathProfessor Helmut JerjenProfessor Ken FreemanProfessor Mark KrumholzProfessor Matthew CollessProfessor Michael IrelandProfessor Naomi McClure-GriffithsProfessor Paul FrancisProfessor Robert SharpProfessor Stuart Wyithe Yuxiang Qin Advanced search Project type - Any - Not open for students Open for students Status - Any - Potential Current Completed Study level - Any - Bachelor Graduate certificate Honours Master MPhil PhD Research theme - Any - Black hole phenomena Galactic archaeology Instrumentation Stellar and planetary astronomy Structure and evolution of the Cosmos Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 project(s). Accretion and outflow in young stellar objects Obtaining a good understanding of the physics of star formation remains one of the main problems in astrophysics today. The formation of stars determines the structure, evolution and luminosity of galaxies, and quite possibly contributed to the reionisation of the early Universe. Theme Stellar and planetary astronomy Read more Student intake Open for PhD students People Dr Marc White, Principal investigator Professor Geoff Bicknell, Supervisor Read more Accretion and outflow in young stellar objects Obtaining a good understanding of the physics of star formation remains one of the main problems in astrophysics today. The formation of stars determines the structure, evolution and luminosity of galaxies, and quite possibly contributed to the reionisation of the early Universe. Theme Stellar and planetary astronomy Read more Student intake Open for PhD students People Dr Marc White, Principal investigator Professor Geoff Bicknell, Supervisor Read more Antarctic Broadband program 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. Theme Instrumentation Read more Centre Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre Read more Component Testing of Adaptive Optics Tracking and Pushing System The successful applicant will join the ANU team and will participate in the design and testing of the Adaptive Optics Tracking and Pushing (AOTP) system. Theme Instrumentation Read more Student intake Open for Bachelor, Honours, PhD students People Dr Doris Grosse, Supervisor Read more Finding transient objects with HAT-South This honours thesis project was based on data obtained from the HAT-South survey. The HAT-South project is a survey of the southern sky with telescopes in Chile, South Africa and Australia, taking 240 second exposures with a 4.5 minute cadence. Theme Stellar and planetary astronomy Read more Student intake Open for Honours students Read more Following up HAT-South transiting planet candidates We identified four very promising HAT-South candidates based on their photomet- ric and reconnaissance spectroscopic measurements. In addition, of the candidates followed-up by our spectroscopic observations, 26 have been passed on for high resolution radial velocity measurements. These promising candidates will be followed up with 4-8m class telescopes to be confirmed as true transiting planets. Theme Stellar and planetary astronomy Read more Student intake Open for Honours students Read more Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) The Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager - known as GSAOI - is a $6.3 million, wide-field, infrared camera that was designed and manufactured by RSAA engineers and technicians for the Gemini South telescope in Chile. Theme Instrumentation Read more Centre Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre Read more Modeling the inner radio structure of the galaxy Centaurus A This honours research developed numerical models of the inner radio structure of Centaurus A using the FLASH relativistic hydrodynamics code, and compared the predictions with observations of the galaxy. Theme Black hole phenomena Read more Student intake Open for Honours students People Professor Geoff Bicknell, Supervisor Read more Nucleosynthesis and ejection process: assisting in chemical tagging for the HERMES project This Honours project was designed to complement the High Efficiency and Resolution Multi-Element Spectroscopy (HERMES) project being undertake at the AAT. Theme Galactic archaeology Read more Student intake Open for Honours students People Professor Ken Freeman, Supervisor Read more Oscillations in red giants This short project will using existing data for a sample of red giant stars from the OGLE II and III, and MACHO surveys. Theme Stellar and planetary astronomy Read more Student intake Open for PhD students People Emeritus Professor Peter Wood, Supervisor Read more Quantifying the potential biosphere of Mars In this project, we have worked on developing and comparing empirical pressure-temperature (P-T) phase diagrams of water, Earth, and terrestrial life, to quantify the terrestrial limits on the habitability of water and help identify the factors that cause some terrestrial water to be uninhabited. Theme Stellar and planetary astronomy Read more Student intake Open for PhD students People Dr Charley Lineweaver, Supervisor Professor Paul Francis, Supervisor Read more Quantifying the potential biosphere of Mars In this project, we have worked on developing and comparing empirical pressure-temperature (P-T) phase diagrams of water, Earth, and terrestrial life, to quantify the terrestrial limits on the habitability of water and help identify the factors that cause some terrestrial water to be uninhabited. Theme Stellar and planetary astronomy Read more Student intake Open for PhD students People Dr Charley Lineweaver, Supervisor Professor Paul Francis, Supervisor Read more RSAA Telescope Automation and Remote Observing System (TAROS) TAROS is a remote observing software system that has been designed and implemented at RSAA. The system allows the ANU telescopes at a remote location to be operated automatically, or interactively with authenticated control via the internet. Theme Instrumentation Read more Centre Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre Read more SkyMapper camera SkyMapper is a state-of-the-art automated wide-field survey telescope located at Siding Spring Observatory. Its mission is to robotically create the first comprehensive digital survey of the entire southern sky, providing a massively detailed record of over a billion stars and galaxies, to a depth one million times fainter than the human eye can observe. Theme Instrumentation Read more Centre Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre Read more The link between extended line emission and AGN feedback in brightest cluster galaxies This research project employed the Wide-Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) to study the extended filaments surrounding a sample of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in massive clusters. Integral-field spectroscopy provides the opportunity to measure the distribution, emission properties, and velocities of the emitting gas across the extent of the galaxies. Theme Black hole phenomenaStructure and evolution of the Cosmos Read more Student intake Open for PhD students Read more