Space science and astronomy: New eyes on old stars: Decoding late-stage stellar evolution. Planetary nebulae, the extended shrouds of dying stars, are a fascinating, brief period in the life of most stars. Our Sun will eventually go through this phase engulfing the earth. Planetary nebulae are unique celestial laboratories thanks to their rich emission line spectra. They are amongst the most beautiful and mysterious of objects, whose startling images act as a photogenic magnet for public interes ....Space science and astronomy: New eyes on old stars: Decoding late-stage stellar evolution. Planetary nebulae, the extended shrouds of dying stars, are a fascinating, brief period in the life of most stars. Our Sun will eventually go through this phase engulfing the earth. Planetary nebulae are unique celestial laboratories thanks to their rich emission line spectra. They are amongst the most beautiful and mysterious of objects, whose startling images act as a photogenic magnet for public interest. Behind their beauty hides the mystery of how stars return carbon, one of life's essential building blocks - to interstellar space. This project will constitute the next major breakthrough in understanding these processes and addresses several significant astrophysical problems in the field via unique Australian data and instrumentation.Read moreRead less
High-cadence near-infrared imaging. This project aims to deploy a cryogenic camera system to improve the outputs of astronomical telescopes. The system is equipped with an emerging detector technology, a near-infrared Avalanche Photo-Diode array, capable of high cadence imaging with frame rates of 10 - 1,000 Hz at a wavelength of around 2.2 microns. This new technology is a key component to the future of adaptive optics systems for astronomical telescopes as it allows the rapid measurements nece ....High-cadence near-infrared imaging. This project aims to deploy a cryogenic camera system to improve the outputs of astronomical telescopes. The system is equipped with an emerging detector technology, a near-infrared Avalanche Photo-Diode array, capable of high cadence imaging with frame rates of 10 - 1,000 Hz at a wavelength of around 2.2 microns. This new technology is a key component to the future of adaptive optics systems for astronomical telescopes as it allows the rapid measurements necessary to correct the image blurring introduced by the Earth's atmosphere. No expertise currently exists in Australia with this new technology. Capitalising on previous investment, the camera system is intended to fill a capability gap in local expertise and to ensure the potential of the next generation of telescopes is realised and strengthen our competitive edge for frontier instrumentation across the wider Australian imaging community.Read moreRead less
Detecting the deaths of the first stars: Investigating the physical processes in the early Universe. This project will pursue the most distant supernova explosions in the Universe and investigate their host galaxies and environments. It will use a technique that has detected the most distant supernovae, probing 12 billion years into the past, and one that is able to discover, for the first time, the deaths of the first stars to have formed after the Big Bang. This project will use this technique ....Detecting the deaths of the first stars: Investigating the physical processes in the early Universe. This project will pursue the most distant supernova explosions in the Universe and investigate their host galaxies and environments. It will use a technique that has detected the most distant supernovae, probing 12 billion years into the past, and one that is able to discover, for the first time, the deaths of the first stars to have formed after the Big Bang. This project will use this technique to gather a statistical sample of supernovae to determine their occurrence rate and physical properties and to provide crucial data for a newly discovered, extremely powerful, third type of supernova. This data will test the laws in which early galaxies formed their stars and reveal the framework for the subsequent evolution of the Universe.Read moreRead less
Pinpointing the hosts of Fast Radio Bursts with UTMOST-2D. This project proposes to localise a sample of detected ‘fast radio bursts’ to their host galaxies (or local progenitors) for the first time. ‘Fast radio bursts’ are impulsive bursts of radio energy, with characteristics consistent with an origin billions of light-years from Earth. If the source of the bursts can be pinpointed, they would offer a unique tool to study the tenuous, otherwise nearly invisible plasma that permeates the interg ....Pinpointing the hosts of Fast Radio Bursts with UTMOST-2D. This project proposes to localise a sample of detected ‘fast radio bursts’ to their host galaxies (or local progenitors) for the first time. ‘Fast radio bursts’ are impulsive bursts of radio energy, with characteristics consistent with an origin billions of light-years from Earth. If the source of the bursts can be pinpointed, they would offer a unique tool to study the tenuous, otherwise nearly invisible plasma that permeates the intergalactic medium. They could also be used as cosmic rulers to measure the expansion history of the Universe. To date, no burst has been associated with a host galaxy at a known distance, and some researchers maintain that fast radio bursts originate from more nearby sources, potentially even within our own Galaxy. The project plans to explore this hypothesis.Read moreRead less
Supporting early science from the Murchison Widefield Array - a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder telescope. The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is likely to be the first operational pathfinder for the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) on one of the two candidate SKA sites - the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia. The MWA will therefore generate large volumes of scientific data before 2012, the expected date of the international decision that will dete ....Supporting early science from the Murchison Widefield Array - a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder telescope. The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is likely to be the first operational pathfinder for the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) on one of the two candidate SKA sites - the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia. The MWA will therefore generate large volumes of scientific data before 2012, the expected date of the international decision that will determine whether Australia or South Africa is to host the SKA. The early science results from the MWA will showcase the excellence of the Australian site for radio astronomy and play a significant strategic role in Australia's bid to attract the SKA, as an international mega-science project to Australia, with its benefits to Australian science, industry and society.Read moreRead less
Supporting early science from the Murchison Widefield Array - a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder telescope. The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is likely to be the first operational pathfinder for the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) on one of the two candidate SKA sites - the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia. The MWA will therefore generate large volumes of scientific data before 2012, the expected date of the international decision that will dete ....Supporting early science from the Murchison Widefield Array - a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder telescope. The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is likely to be the first operational pathfinder for the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) on one of the two candidate SKA sites - the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia. The MWA will therefore generate large volumes of scientific data before 2012, the expected date of the international decision that will determine whether Australia or South Africa is to host the SKA. The early science results from the MWA will showcase the excellence of the Australian site for radio astronomy and play a significant strategic role in Australia's bid to attract the SKA, as an international mega-science project to Australia, with its benefits to Australian science, industry and society.Read moreRead less