Seeing Dark with Light: Revealing the Milky Way with Stellar Streams. This project aims to reveal the dark matter that envelops the Milky Way, deconstructing its mass through observations of cannibalised smaller galaxies. Uniting ground- and space-based observations, this project expects to uncover the detailed size and shape of the Galaxy's dark matter halo through dynamical modelling of dwarf galaxies as they are disrupted by Galactic tidal forces. As well as determining this dominant mass, th ....Seeing Dark with Light: Revealing the Milky Way with Stellar Streams. This project aims to reveal the dark matter that envelops the Milky Way, deconstructing its mass through observations of cannibalised smaller galaxies. Uniting ground- and space-based observations, this project expects to uncover the detailed size and shape of the Galaxy's dark matter halo through dynamical modelling of dwarf galaxies as they are disrupted by Galactic tidal forces. As well as determining this dominant mass, the expected outcomes of this project include a unique snapshot of the evolution of our Milky Way. Leveraging major international collaborations and producing high-impact scientific results, this project will address the primal question of origins, yielding important societal and cultural benefits.Read moreRead less
New Statistical Techniques for Galactic Archaeology. This project aims to develop methods that will enable us to exploit new astronomical data. A revolution is under way in stellar astronomy, with new space satellites and Australian survey instruments about to reveal the composition of millions of stars. These data hold the promise of disentangling the origin of our galaxy through identification of star-forming groups that have long ago dispersed into our galaxy. We can also learn about the nucl ....New Statistical Techniques for Galactic Archaeology. This project aims to develop methods that will enable us to exploit new astronomical data. A revolution is under way in stellar astronomy, with new space satellites and Australian survey instruments about to reveal the composition of millions of stars. These data hold the promise of disentangling the origin of our galaxy through identification of star-forming groups that have long ago dispersed into our galaxy. We can also learn about the nuclear and stellar processes that were active in long-dead stars, and hence explain why the Universe is the way it is. This project aims to extend the powerful Minimum Message Length method, never before used in astronomy, to handle this data. This would put us in a unique position to extract new knowledge from the data that will arrive in the next one to five years.Read moreRead less
Extreme events: mining the radio sky for gamma-ray bursts with intelligent algorithms. Gamma-ray bursts and supernova explosions are some of the most extreme events in the Universe, and working out what causes them, and other transient phenomena, will give us new physical insights. The project will search, using next generation telescopes and intelligent algorithms, to find these 'needles in a haystack'.
The growth of giant black holes in the early universe. This project aims to discover the largest black holes in the early universe and their origin, and weigh them using infrared spectroscopy. Giant black holes at the centres of galaxies reach masses over ten billion times that of our Sun. Astronomy has revealed the origin of black holes with masses similar to that of the Sun, but remains puzzled by the existence of those with masses many million times larger. This project will reveal pathways o ....The growth of giant black holes in the early universe. This project aims to discover the largest black holes in the early universe and their origin, and weigh them using infrared spectroscopy. Giant black holes at the centres of galaxies reach masses over ten billion times that of our Sun. Astronomy has revealed the origin of black holes with masses similar to that of the Sun, but remains puzzled by the existence of those with masses many million times larger. This project will reveal pathways of black-hole growth early after the Big Bang. The project will shed light on the evolution of galaxies in the early universe and prepare the ground for new work by other scientists, for example on the origin of the elements.Read moreRead less
A networked robotic telescope array for coincident detection of transient phenomena in the optical, gravitational wave, neutrino and radio spectra. An international collaboration of scientists will employ a global network of rapid response robotic telescopes and detectors to study exotic transient phenomena in the early Universe. Potential spin-offs include the application of novel image analysis techniques for identifying and tracking dangerous space junk.