Astrophysics at Keele: the formation and evolution of galaxies, stars and planets
Lead Research Organisation:
Keele University
Department Name: Faculty of Natural Sciences
Abstract
In understanding our place in the universe we need to know how many planets there are, how planetary systems form and evolve, and how many of them are like our Solar System, possibly harbouring life. The best way of studying planets is to find the ones that pass in front of ("transit") their star. By looking for the tiny dips in a star's light caused by a transiting planet, Keele's WASP-South survey has found more transiting planets than anyone else in the Southern hemisphere, and is using them to answer questions about how planetary systems form.
Planets form around young stars, and star and planet formation are intimately connected. Keele will process the data from a very large survey of young stars and clusters of stars, using spectra obtained by ESO's Very Large Telescope, to combine with the unprecedented astrometry soon to be obtained by ESA's Gaia mission. The combination will provide the biggest survey yet of how stars and stellar clusters form and evolve.
The two Magellanic Clouds are the two galaxies closest to our own, so close that they interact with our galaxy, providing an excellent opportunity to study how galaxies affect each other, with collisions and mergers thought to be important factors in explaining galaxies today. Keele's role in the new-generation radio survey of the Magellanic Clouds provided by the GASKAP project will provide the most detailed yet picture of the dynamics and interactions of our Milky way with these two satellite galaxies.
At the cores of galaxies, supermassive black holes can grow by sucking in material from their surroundings. It is now realised that powerful winds generated by the swirling around a black hole can both regulate the growth of the black hole and affect the future evolution of the whole galaxy. A Keele-led program using the latest X-ray satellites studies the X-ray emission generated by the extreme gravity of the black hole to study the black-hole winds and their affect on their environment.
Planets form around young stars, and star and planet formation are intimately connected. Keele will process the data from a very large survey of young stars and clusters of stars, using spectra obtained by ESO's Very Large Telescope, to combine with the unprecedented astrometry soon to be obtained by ESA's Gaia mission. The combination will provide the biggest survey yet of how stars and stellar clusters form and evolve.
The two Magellanic Clouds are the two galaxies closest to our own, so close that they interact with our galaxy, providing an excellent opportunity to study how galaxies affect each other, with collisions and mergers thought to be important factors in explaining galaxies today. Keele's role in the new-generation radio survey of the Magellanic Clouds provided by the GASKAP project will provide the most detailed yet picture of the dynamics and interactions of our Milky way with these two satellite galaxies.
At the cores of galaxies, supermassive black holes can grow by sucking in material from their surroundings. It is now realised that powerful winds generated by the swirling around a black hole can both regulate the growth of the black hole and affect the future evolution of the whole galaxy. A Keele-led program using the latest X-ray satellites studies the X-ray emission generated by the extreme gravity of the black hole to study the black-hole winds and their affect on their environment.
Planned Impact
The astrophysics group has a vigorous outreach programme, which benefits from the networks provided by Keele's Widening Participation Division and Science Learning Centre West Midlands and provides benefit to the general public, school children (particularly in the 11-18 age range) and their teachers. We actively enthuse school children, their teachers and the public about STFC science by: taking a planetarium into schools; operating the well-equipped Keele observatory, encouraging both public access and visits from schools; providing adult education classes focused on our research topics; and organising well-attended teacher-training workshops.
In the next grant period we are planning major enhancements to our planetarium activities. We will upgrade its projector system, transforming it into an "exoplanetarium"; develop new planetarium resources based on our exoplanetary and stellar research , which will be widely and freely disseminated to a worldwide open-source planetarium software community; train a chort of undergraduate "Science Mentors" and astrophysics postgraduates to deliver outreach; and take the exoplanetarium into about 30 schools per year, interacting with more than 5000 pupils and their teachers. Our aims are to inspire more children (and their teachers), from an area with a traditionally low HE participation rate, to think about University and science at University level, hence promoting their economic well-being, and showcasing our STFC-funded research.
Book, magazine and newspaper publishers, blog writers and science news websites have all benefited from several press releases and interviews by members of the Keele astrophysics group in recent years. These media events are the result of major discoveries in the areas of star formation, massive stars and exoplanets. Keele will continue to announce major discoveries throughout the forthcoming grant period.
We are developing links with local industry. A Stoke-based SME, who manufacture parts for NASA and ESA astrophysics missions, will be sponsoring an undergraduate Astrophysics prize at Keele and providing careers advice; we in turn will benefit them by assisting them with their public relations and website.
In the next grant period we are planning major enhancements to our planetarium activities. We will upgrade its projector system, transforming it into an "exoplanetarium"; develop new planetarium resources based on our exoplanetary and stellar research , which will be widely and freely disseminated to a worldwide open-source planetarium software community; train a chort of undergraduate "Science Mentors" and astrophysics postgraduates to deliver outreach; and take the exoplanetarium into about 30 schools per year, interacting with more than 5000 pupils and their teachers. Our aims are to inspire more children (and their teachers), from an area with a traditionally low HE participation rate, to think about University and science at University level, hence promoting their economic well-being, and showcasing our STFC-funded research.
Book, magazine and newspaper publishers, blog writers and science news websites have all benefited from several press releases and interviews by members of the Keele astrophysics group in recent years. These media events are the result of major discoveries in the areas of star formation, massive stars and exoplanets. Keele will continue to announce major discoveries throughout the forthcoming grant period.
We are developing links with local industry. A Stoke-based SME, who manufacture parts for NASA and ESA astrophysics missions, will be sponsoring an undergraduate Astrophysics prize at Keele and providing careers advice; we in turn will benefit them by assisting them with their public relations and website.
Organisations
Publications
Cristini Andrea
(2016)
3D Hydrodynamic Simulations of Carbon Burning in Massive Stars
in ArXiv e-prints
Bachelet E
(2012)
A brown dwarf orbiting an M-dwarf: MOA 2009-BLG-411L
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Jordán A
(2013)
A GROUND-BASED OPTICAL TRANSMISSION SPECTRUM OF WASP-6b
in The Astrophysical Journal
Reeves J
(2013)
A HIGH RESOLUTION VIEW OF THE WARM ABSORBER IN THE QUASAR MR 2251-178
in The Astrophysical Journal
Braito Valentina
(2017)
A high spectral resolution map of the nuclear emitting regions of NGC 7582
in ArXiv e-prints
Binks A
(2013)
A lithium depletion boundary age of 21 Myr for the Beta Pictoris moving group
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Jeffries R
(2013)
A lithium depletion boundary age of 22 Myr for NGC 1960
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Schaffenroth V
(2013)
A new bright eclipsing hot subdwarf binary from the ASAS and SuperWASP surveys
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Choi J
(2012)
A NEW TYPE OF AMBIGUITY IN THE PLANET AND BINARY INTERPRETATIONS OF CENTRAL PERTURBATIONS OF HIGH-MAGNIFICATION GRAVITATIONAL MICROLENSING EVENTS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Geier S
(2013)
A progenitor binary and an ejected mass donor remnant of faint type Ia supernovae
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Graczyk D
(2016)
A solar twin in the eclipsing binary LL Aquarii
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Patrick A
(2012)
A Suzaku survey of Fe K lines in Seyfert 1 active galactic nuclei Suzaku observations of iron lines
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
David T
(2017)
A Transient Transit Signature Associated with the Young Star RIK-210
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kirkby-Kent J
(2016)
Absolute parameters for AI Phoenicis using WASP photometry
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bruntt H
(2012)
Accurate fundamental parameters and detailed abundance patterns from spectroscopy of 93 solar-type Kepler targets?† Parameters of solar-type Kepler targets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Doyle A
(2013)
Accurate spectroscopic parameters of WASP planet host stars?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kittang A
(2013)
Adaptation response of Arabidopsis thaliana to random positioning
in Advances in Space Research
Jones S
(2013)
ADVANCED BURNING STAGES AND FATE OF 8-10 M ? STARS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Indebetouw R
(2013)
ALMA RESOLVES 30 DORADUS: SUB-PARSEC MOLECULAR CLOUD STRUCTURE NEAR THE CLOSEST SUPER STAR CLUSTER
in The Astrophysical Journal
Clark B
(2018)
An Analysis of Transiting Hot Jupiters Observed with K2: WASP-55b and WASP-75b
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Tombesi F
(2013)
An outburst scenario for the X-ray spectral variability in 3C 111
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pillitteri I
(2013)
AN X-RAY SURVEY OF THE YOUNG STELLAR POPULATION OF THE LYNDS 1641 AND IOTA ORIONIS REGIONS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Brown D
(2012)
ANALYSIS OF SPIN-ORBIT ALIGNMENT IN THE WASP-32, WASP-38, AND HAT-P-27/WASP-40 SYSTEMS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Meibom S
(2013)
Angular momentum evolution of cool stars: Toward a synthesis of observations and theory before and after the ZAMS
in Astronomische Nachrichten
Battino U
(2016)
APPLICATION OF A THEORY AND SIMULATION-BASED CONVECTIVE BOUNDARY MIXING MODEL FOR AGB STAR EVOLUTION AND NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Avelino P
(2012)
Assessing the viability of successful reconstruction of the dynamics of dark energy using varying fundamental couplings
in Physics Letters B
Southworth John
(2012)
ASTRONOMY A new class of planet
in NATURE
Østensen R
(2013)
Binaries discovered by the MUCHFUSS project FBS 0117+396: An sdB+dM binary with a pulsating primary?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nardini E
(2015)
Black hole feedback in the luminous quasar PDS 456
McQuillin R
(2013)
Black hole wind speeds and the M - s relation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kamenetzky J
(2013)
CARBON MONOXIDE IN THE COLD DEBRIS OF SUPERNOVA 1987A
in The Astrophysical Journal
Sloan G
(2012)
CARBON-RICH DUST PRODUCTION IN METAL-POOR GALAXIES IN THE LOCAL GROUP
in The Astrophysical Journal
Spake Jessica
(2016)
Characterising the atmosphere of a uniquely low-density, sub-Saturn mass planet
in Spitzer Proposal
Choi J
(2012)
CHARACTERIZING LENSES AND LENSED STARS OF HIGH-MAGNIFICATION SINGLE-LENS GRAVITATIONAL MICROLENSING EVENTS WITH LENSES PASSING OVER SOURCE STARS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Shin I
(2012)
CHARACTERIZING LOW-MASS BINARIES FROM OBSERVATION OF LONG-TIMESCALE CAUSTIC-CROSSING GRAVITATIONAL MICROLENSING EVENTS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Choplin A
(2016)
Clues on the first stars from CEMP-no stars
in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Eggenberger P.
(2016)
Constraining the efficiency of angular momentum transport with asteroseismology of red giants: the effect of stellar mass
in ArXiv e-prints
Braito V
(2013)
Decoupling absorption and continuum variability in the Seyfert 2 NGC 4507
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tkachenko A
(2012)
Detection of gravity modes in the massive binary V380 Cyg from Kepler space-based photometry and high-resolution spectroscopy? Gravity modes in the massive binary V380 Cyg
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Legg E
(2012)
DIRECT MEASUREMENT OF THE X-RAY TIME-DELAY TRANSFER FUNCTION IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gómez Maqueo Chew Y
(2013)
Discovery of WASP-65b and WASP-75b: Two hot Jupiters without highly inflated radii
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Smith R
(2012)
Dust discs around intermediate-mass and Sun-like stars in the 16 Myr old NGC 1960 open cluster Debris discs in NGC 1960
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Indebetouw R
(2014)
DUST PRODUCTION AND PARTICLE ACCELERATION IN SUPERNOVA 1987A REVEALED WITH ALMA
in The Astrophysical Journal
Sheets H
(2013)
DUSTY OB STARS IN THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD. I. OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY REVEALS PREDOMINANTLY MAIN-SEQUENCE OB STARS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Adams J
(2013)
DUSTY OB STARS IN THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD. II. EXTRAGALACTIC DISKS OR EXAMPLES OF THE PLEIADES PHENOMENON?
in The Astrophysical Journal
Oliveira J
(2013)
Early-stage young stellar objects in the Small Magellanic Cloud
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tinetti G
(2012)
EChO Exoplanet characterisation observatory
in Experimental Astronomy
Maxted P
(2013)
EL CVn-type binaries - discovery of 17 helium white dwarf precursors in bright eclipsing binary star systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Description | Lots and lots of them |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | We have particpated in dozens and dozens of such activites. Lots. We have about dozens and dozens of such feedbacks. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014 |