Stellar and planetary astrophysics

Exploring chemical evolution and origin of elements

Research projects in this theme also look at stellar structure, clusters and populations, galactic archaeology and formation, as well as planet formation and exoplanet detection.

Typical facilities used by our group are:

• European Southern Observatory telescopes, such as the Very Large Telescope
• space telescopes like Gaia or the James Webb Space Telescope
• bespoke surveys like Galah at the Anglo-Australian Telescope
• the Vista Survey of the Magellanic Clouds undertaken with the ESO/VISTA telescope.

Learn more about the projects we are undertaking, the researchers engaged in them, and who you can contact to get involved.

Star clusters as probes of stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis

Star clusters are ideal probes to test theories of stellar evolutione they contain stars of similar age, composition, and mass.

Using a suite of multiwavelength observations of star clusters and state-of-the-art theoretical stellar and nucleosynthesis models, this project aims to address gaps in our current understanding of the physical and nucleosynthetic processes that govern the evolution of stars and the production of their elements.

The observational data set includes multiwavelength spectroscopy from surveys such as GALAH, APOGEE, and from ground-based facilities such as the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, astrometric data from the Gaia satellite, and photometric measurements.

To get involved in this project, contact:

• Devika Kamath
• Richard de Grijs

Using dying stars to reveal the origin of elemental isotopes in the universe

How the elements in the universe are synthesised is one of the defining questions of astrophysics.

Low- and intermediate-mass (LIM) stars are key contributors to the chemical enrichment of their host galaxies. However, understanding how they produce their elements remains an unsolved problem.

Using high-resolution spectra of post-AGB stars – obtained from facilities such as the 8-metre Very Large Telescopes at the European Southern Observatory, the Australian-led million-star GALactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) survey, and other international surveys – this project will conduct a comprehensive and homogeneous chemical analysis, finally revealing the process of element production in LIM stars.

To get involved in this project, contact: Devika Kamath