Astrophysics at Keele: planets, stars and galaxies

In understanding our place in the universe we want to know about planets, about stars and about galaxies. We'd like to know how planets form, what they are like, and how many are in Solar Systems like our own. Planets form around stars, so this is related to how stars form and evolve, and that is related to how galaxies form stars, and how that changes over the history of the universe.

We can address these questions using forefront astronomical observatories, such as the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory, and using satellites such as GAIA, launched by the European Space Agency to map out local galaxy, and the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope, the long-awaited successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.

In particular, this proposal aims to find the very hottest extra-solar planets, those which orbit closely to very hot and massive stars, in order to see how their atmospheres differ from those of cooler planets. We will also observe planets as they transit their star, looking for signatures of molecules that will tell us what the planets' atmospheres are made of.

We also propose a programme to map out the abundance of helium, the second most abundant element in the universe, in the stars of our galaxy. This is crucial for understanding stars and how they evolve.

We will combine information on the distribution and motions of stars in young clusters of stars, to test models of how star formation works. We will use the James Webb Space Telescope to look at nearby galaxies to see how star formation interacts with the evolution of the overall galaxy.

We will use satellites that observe energetic X-rays to peer at distant quasars, looking for signs of energetic "winds" flowing out of the super-massive black holes at the centre of such galaxies. We will then model how this affects the star formation and evolution of such galaxies, which are seen as they were much earlier in the universe's history.

Keele has a strong and active programme of outreach and the promotion of the public understanding of science. Keele Astrophysics is particularly strong in this regard, and half of the whole university's science-outreach interactions can be attributed to the Astrophysics Group.

In particular we:

(1) Use all opportunities to promote our work in national, international and local media, through press releases and involvement in
television programmes. In the last grant period our research has feature four times in national BBC TV programmes.

(2) We have made the Keele Earth and Space Observatory the main science attraction for the local Stoke-on-Trent area. This brings over 3500 visitors a year onto campus, including school and scout groups.

(3) We have developed a mobile planetarium ``Stardome'', primarily featuring Keele exoplanet research, which has been taken on over 200 school visits. It has now been seen by over 12,000 primary-school children, over 8000 secondary-school children and several thousand members of the general public, and produces excellent feedback from school kids and their teachers. In 2015 it won the Times Higher Education "Widening Participation and Outreach Initiative of the Year".

Keele's programme of science outreach is targeted at pupil inspiration and aspiration in the Stoke-on-Trent region, an area of relative deprivation with relatively low rates of university participation, which thus benefits from astrophysics research in its midst.