Astronomy & Astrophysics
The Astronomy & Astrophysics group contributes across a wide range of research areas, principally in stellar astronomy, aimed at the characterisation of stellar populations, study of the formation and evolution of stars and stellar systems, and investigation of the physical properties and chemistry of their circumstellar environments. There is a strong emphasis on a multi-wavelength approach to our research, with ground-based optical, IR and radio observations merged with satellite-based optical, IR and high-energy (UV, gamma- and X-ray) observations and balloon-based X-ray data, to understand the objects and phenomenon that we observe in an astrophysical sense.
Members of the Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Group:
Academic Staff:
Prof. Warrick Lawson (w.lawson@adfa.edu.au) BSc, MSc, PhD Cant.
Assoc. Prof. Ravi Sood (r.sood@adfa.edu.au) BSc, PhD Lond., DIC, MIAU, FASA, FAIP
Dr Garry Robinson (g.robinson@adfa.edu.au) BSc, PhD Melb., ARMIT
Dr Robert Smith (r.smith@adfa.edu.au) BSc, PhD Melb., FASA, MIAU
ARC Research Fellow:
Assoc. Prof. Chris Wright (c.wright@adfa.edu.au ) BSc Melb., PhD UNSW
Research Students:
Ms Ouge HE - Research Topic -The stellar population of the Chamaeleon I star-forming association.
Recent Graduate Students:
Dr Sean Adam Farrell - Research Topic - The multi-coloured universe of 2S 0114+650
Recent Honours Students:
Michael Varga - Research Topic - Future RADIAC capability for the Australian Defence Force
Paul Andrews - Research Topic - Infrared signatures of aircraft: a theoretical approach to the infrared signature of the Boeing 737-700
Recent Students:
Flying Officer Cosimo Panetta - Research Topic - Star formation in dark clouds.
Research Collaborators:
Prof. M. Bessell (Australian National University)
Dr T. Bourke (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA)
Dr J. Bouwman (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany)
Prof. M. Burton (UNSW)
Dr S. Charnley (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, U.S.A.)
Prof. G. Clayton (Louisiana State University, USA)
Dr L. Crause (South African Astronomical Observatory, South Africa)
Prof. E. van Dishoeck (Leiden University, The Netherlands)
Dr S. Farrell (University of Leicester, UK)
Prof. E. Feigelson (Pennsylvania State University, USA)
Dr T. Fujiyoshi (Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, National Institute of Natural Sciences, Hilo, Hawaii, U.S.A.).
Dr A. Glasse (United Kingdom Astrophysical Technology Centre, Edinburgh)
Prof. T. R. Ireland (Research School of Earth Sciences,The Australian National University)
Dr D. Lommen (Leiden University, The Netherlands)
Dr A-R. Lyo (Korea Astronomical Observatory, Korea)
Dr S. Maddison (Swinburne University)
Dr M. M. Maldoni (Geoscience Australia , Canberra, Australia)
Prof. R. K. Manchanda (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India)
Prof. H. Misawa (Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan)
Dr E. Moraux (Observatoire de Grenoble, France)
Dr Y. Pendleton (NASA Ames Research Center,Space Sciences Division, MountainView, U.S.A.)
Dr S. Rodgers (NASA Ames Research Center, Space Sciences Division, MountainView, U.S.A.)
Dr R. Siebenmorgen (European Southern Observatory, Germany)
Dr M. Sterzik (European Southern Observatory, Chile)
Dr B. Stecklum (Thuringer Landessternwarte, Tautenburg, Germany)
Dr Y. Unruh (Imperial College London, UK)
PhD Opportunities and Scholarships:
The Astronomy & Astrophysics group has ongoing PhD opportunities in the area of star formation.
Contact: Prof. Warrick Lawson (w.lawson@adfa.edu.au)
Major Facilities
- Unix computing facilities for data reduction and analysis
- Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometers
Major External Facilities
- Anglo-Australian Observatory
- Australia Telescope Compact Array
- Chandra X-ray Observatory
- European Southern Observatory
- Gemini Observatory
- Hubble Space Telescope
- NANTEN2 millimetre telescope
- Mopra radio telescope
- South African Astronomical Observatory
- Spitzer Space Telescope
- Very Large Array radio telescope
Current Research
Our current research can be categorised into several broad themes:
High-energy astrophysics
Satellite observations of X-ray accreting binary systems, and young magnetically-active T Tauri stars in star-forming regions, are obtained using current space observatories, e.g. Chandra or XMM/Newton, or from satellite data archives, e.g. ROSAT, ROSSI, etc. Ground-based observations are made using radio and optical/IR telescopes located in Australia (Coonabarabran and Narrabri) and overseas (La Silla, Chile or Sutherland, South Africa) to complement the X-ray data. Some observations are made as part of coordinated campaigns with other ground- and space observatories to determine the nature of the X-ray sources over a range of wavelengths, or their behaviour over an interval of time.
Staff Members: Ravi Sood, Warrick Lawson
Contact: Ravi Sood
Star Formation
We study the chemistry of star formation environments, both interstellar and circumstellar, and investigate the influence of moderating effects such as UV photon radiation fields and stellar winds, principally by obtaining near- and mid-infrared spectroscopy of young stellar objects using ground-based telescopes and infrared space observatories. This work is complemented by laboratory studies of interstellar dust and ice analogues and numerical modeling. We study the properties of the stellar populations of star formation regions, e.g. magnetic activity in young stars and brown dwarfs, the prevalence of inner dust disks and the timescale of their dissipation or inclusion into proto-planetary grains, and the angular momentum history and dynamical state of young stellar clusters. This research is supported by data obtained with current space missions such as Chandra and the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Staff Members: Warrick Lawson, Robert Smith, Garry Robinson, Chris Wright
Contact: Warrick Lawson
Members of the Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Group with the 30-cm teaching telescope of the School of PEMS.
Pictured from L to R (back row): Assoc. Prof. Ravi Sood, Dr Robert Smith (front row) Dr Steve James, Assoc. Prof. Chris Wright,
Prof. Warrick Lawson. [Photo credit: K. Badek]
Student Research
Current student research programs are:
- Star formation in dark clouds
- Dust grain growth in the disks around young stars.
Recent Publications
2011 publications
Bullock, E., Szkody, P., Mukadam, A.S., Borges, B.W., Fraga, L., G?nsicke, B.T., Harrison, T.E., Henden, A., Holtzman, J., Howell, S.B., Lawson, W.A., Levine, S., Plotkin, R.M., Seibert, M., Templeton, M., Teske, J., Vrba, F.J., 2011, GALEX and optical observations of GW Librae during the long decline from superoutburst, The Astronomical Journal, 141(3),84-94, doi: 10.1088/0004-6256/141/3/84..
Clayton, G.C., De Marco, O., Whitney, B.A., Babler, B., Gallagher, J.S., Nordhaus, J., Speck, A.K., Wolff, M.J., Freeman, W.R., Camp, K.A., Lawson, W.A., Roman-Duval, J., Misselt, K.A., Meade, M., Sonneborn, G., Matsuura, M. & Meixner, M., 2011, The dust properties of two Hot R Coronae Borealis Stars and a Wolf-Rayet Central Star of a Planetary Nebula: In search of a possible link, Astronomical Journal, 142, 54-1 - 54-8, 10.1088/0004-6256/142/2/54.
Lawson, W.A. & Crause, L.A., 2011, Rotational variability in pre-main sequence stars: TWA 6 in 2008, Information Bulletin on Variable Stars, 5989, 1-4.
Murphy, S.J., Lawson, W.A., Bessell, M.S., & Bayliss, D.D.R., 2011, Episodic disc accretion in the halo of the ?old' pre-main-sequence cluster ? Chamaeleontis, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters ,411(1), L51-L55, doi:10.1111/j.1745-3933.2010.00992.x.
Roccatagliata, V., Bouwman, J., Henning, T., Gennaro, M., Feigelson, E.D., Kim, J.S., Sicilia-Aquilar, A. & Lawson, W.A., 2011, Disk evolution in OB associations: Deep Spitzer/IRAC observations of IC 1795, The Astrophysical Journal, 733(2), 113-1 - 113-20, 10.1088/0004-637X/733/2/113.
Smith, R.G., Charnley, S.B., Pendleton, Y.J., Wright, C.M., Maldoni, M.M. & Robinson, G., 2011, On the formation of interstellar water ice: Constraints from a search for hydrogen peroxide ice in molecular clouds, The Astrophysical Journal, 743(2), 130-1 - 130-13, 10.1088/0004-637X/743/2/131.
Smith, R.G. & Wright, C.M., 2011, The librational band of water ice in AFGL 961: Revisited, MNRAS, 414(4), 3764-3768, 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18721.x.
2010 publications
Bouwman, J., Lawson, W.A., Juhasz, A., Dominik, C., Feigelson, E. D, Henning, Th., Tielens, A.G.G.M., Waters, L.B.F.M., 2010, The protoplanetary disk around the M4 star RECX 5: witnessing the influence of planet formation?, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 723(2), L243 - L247, doi:10.1088/2041-8205/723/2/L243.
Robinson, G., & Maldoni, M.M., 2010, 'Why is the librational waterice band at 11.5 so difficult to detect?', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 345, pp. 171 - 1967.
Murphy, S.J., Lawson, W.A., & Bessell, M.S. 2010, First detection of a low-mass halo around the young open cluster Chamaeleontis, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 406(1), L50 - L54, doi:10.1111/j.1745-3933.2010.00879.x.
Smith, R.G. & Wright, C.M., 2010, A silhouette envelope around GGD30IR detected by Spitzer, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 401(1), 245-251, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15629.x.
2009 publications
Journal - Refereed
Hussain, G.A.J., Collier Cameron, A., Jardine, M.M., Dunstone, N., Velez, J.R., Stempels, H.C., Donati, J.-F., Semel, M., Aulanier, G., Harries, T., Bouvier, J., Dougados, C., Ferreira, J., Carter, B.D. & Lawson, W.A., 2009, Surface magnetic fields on two accreting T Tauri stars: CV Cha and CR Cha, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 398, 189-200, doi:. 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14881.x.
Lawson, W.A. & Crause, L.A., 2009, Rotational and candidate-eclipsing-binary light curves for pre-main-sequence stars in the Chamaeleon I star-forming cloud, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , 26(1) , 31-36, doi:10.1071/AS08018.
Lawson, W.A., Lyo, A-R. & Bessell, M.S., 2009, The age rank of the nearest pre-main-sequence groups, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 400(1), L29-L33.
Lommen, D., Maddison, S.T., Wright, C.M. , van Dishoeck, E.F., Wilner, D.J. & Bourke, T.L., 2009, Large grains in discs around young stars: ATCA observations of WW Chamaeleontis, RU Lupi, and CS Chamaeleontis, Astronomy & Astrophysics , 495(3), 869-879, doi: 10.1051/0004-6361:200810999.
Meeus, G., Juhasz, A., Henning, T., Bouwman, J., Chen, C.W., Lawson, W.A., Apai, D., Pascucci, I. & Sicilia-Aguilar, A., 2009, MBM 12: Young protoplanetary discs at high galactic latitude, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 497(2) , 379-392, doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/200811490.
Revnivtsev, M.G., Kniazev, A.Y., Sazonov, S.Y., Burenin, R.A., Tekola, A., Buckley, D.A., Pretorius, M.L., Menzies, J. & Lawson, W.A., 2009, Optical identification of the source IGR J08390-4833 from the INTEGRAL all-sky survey, Astronomy Letters , 35(1) , 33-38, doi: 10.1134/S1063773709010046.
Skelly M.B., Unruh, Y.C., Barnes, J.R., Lawson, W.A., Donati, J.-F. & Collier Cameron, A., 2009, Doppler images and chromospheric variability of TWA 17, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 399(4), 1829?1838, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15411.x.
Sicilia-Aguilar, A., Bouwman, J., Juh?sz, A., Henning, Th., Roccatagliata, V., Lawson, W.A., Acke, B, Feigelson, E.D., Tielens, A.G.G.M., Decin, L. & Meeus, G., 2009, The long-lived disks in the h Chamaeleontis cluster, Astrophysical Journal, 701(2), 1188-1203, doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/701/2/1188.
Towers, I. & Robinson, G., 2009, A model for multiple isothermal circumstellar dust shells, Physica Scripta, 80(1), 15901 (10 pp.), doi: 10.1088/0031-8949/80/01/015901.
Conference ? Talk/Abstract
Wright, C.M., 2009, Resolving structure in the HD100546 disk ? Signatures of planet building?, contributed talk and abstract at the IAU XXVII General Assembly, Special Session 7, Young Stars, Brown Dwarfs, and Protoplanetary Disks , 11-14 August 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2008 publications
Journal - Refereed
Farrell , S.A., Sood, R.K., O'Neill, P. & Dieters, S., 2008, A detailed study of 2S 0114+650 with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 389(2) , 608-628, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13588.x .
Getman, K.V., Feigelson, E.D., Lawson, W.A., Broos, P.S. & Garmire, G.P., 2008, The stellar population and origin of the mysterious high-latitude star-forming cloud CG 12, The Astrophysical Journal , 673 , 331?353, doi: 10.1086/524004.
Lyo, A.R., Lawson, W.A. & Bessell, M.S., 2008, Spectrophotometric properties of pre-main-sequence stars: The epsilon Chamaeleontis cluster, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 389(3) , 1461-1469.
Maldoni, M.M., Ireland , T.R. & Robinson, G., 2008, IRAS 22036+5306: An Al 2 O 3 oxide-dominated post-AGB star, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 386(4) , 2290-2296.
Manchanda, R.K., Sood, R.K., Grey, D. & Isbister, D.J., 2008, Transport and recombination of electrons in a high pressure proportional counter using different gas mixtures, Nuclear instruments and Methods in Physics Research , 595(3) , 605-615, doi: 10.1016/j.nima.2008.08.021.
Skelly, M.B., Unruh, Y.C., Collier Cameron, A., Barnes, J.R., Donati, J., Lawson, W.A. & Carter, B.D., 2008, Doppler images and chromospheric variability of TWA 6, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 385(2), 708-718.
Conference - Full paper refereed
Brandl, B.R., Lenzen, R., Pantin, E., Glasse, A.C., Blommaert, J., Venema, L., Molster, F., Siebenmorgen, R., Boehnhardt, H., van Dishoeck, E., van der Werf, P., Henning, T., Brandner, W., Lagage, P.O., Moore, T.J.T., Baes, M., Waelkens, C., Wright, C., K?ufl, H.U., Kendrew, S., Stuik, R. & Jolissaint, L., 2008, METIS - the mid-infrared E-ELT imager and spectrograph, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II: Proceedings of SPIE Vol 7014 , I.S McLean, M.M Casali (eds), Marseile, France, Bellingham, Washington USA, pp. 70141N-1-70141N-15.
Wright, C.M., Siebenmorgen, R., Stecklum, B., Sterzik, M. & Kaeufl, H., 2008, A mid-infrared polarization capability for the ELT - art. no. 701429, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II, Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 7014 , I.S McLean, M.M Casali (eds), Marseille, France, Bellingham, Washington USA, pp. 1429-1-1429-13.