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).
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
Student intake
Open for PhD students
People
- Dr Marc White, Principal investigator
- Professor Geoff Bicknell, Supervisor
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
Student intake
Open for PhD students
People
- Dr Marc White, Principal investigator
- Professor Geoff Bicknell, Supervisor
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Student intake
Open for PhD students
People
- Dr Charley Lineweaver, Supervisor
- Professor Paul Francis, Supervisor
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
Student intake
Open for PhD students
People
- Dr Charley Lineweaver, Supervisor
- Professor Paul Francis, Supervisor
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
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
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 phenomena
- Structure and evolution of the Cosmos