1. MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS RESEARCH – ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS CORE Astronomy and astrophysics research has grown rapidly at Macquarie over the last 6 years. There are now 20+ group members including 4 academic staff, 4 associates, 3 postdoctoral fellows, 10 PhD students, 4 masters students and various honours students engaged in a vigorous program of diverse research: See http://www.physics.mq.edu.au/astronomy/ Our deep LMC Hα stack image SMP27 HST image of LMC planetary nebula SMP27 Macquarie astronomers have built a strong international reputation. Current research strengths include wide-field astronomy, optical, infrared and radio studies of planetary nebulae and supernova remnants, stellar proper motions, and theoretical studies of shock-waves, star formation and black holes. Output metrics 2003-2008: Publications:150+ papers including 60+ in refereed journals; Major Grants with a total value ~$3m; Major telescope access won on world’s most prestigious observatories such as HST, SPITZER, CHANDRA, GEMINI, ESO VLT) equivalent to $4.2m of facility access; 5 PhD completions since Dec 2005 – most go in to industry.

2. 2 Postgraduate studies: PhD & Masters by research A variety of options are available for PhD graduates wishing to pursue a research or industrial career – it is not just astronomy! Astronomy graduates have gone into a broad range of careers including remote sensing, medical physics, conservation science, financial modeling, defense industries, teaching, even insurance… some even stay on in Astronomy. Students leave equipped with a wide range of sophisticated and useful skills. These include but are not restricted to: –high level analytical skills including data processing, manipulation, interpretation, assessment and evaluation –Experimental design, testing against data, image processing, spectral analysis –Computational physics, software development, modeling, scientific writing, science proposals – persuading someone to part with money/resources! MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS ASTRONOMY RESEARCH – POSTGRADUATE STUDIES PhD projects are available in observational, theoretical and in instrumentation projects that can equip students with a very broad range of capabilities Cutting-edge instrumentation PhD projects with advanced photonics in collaboration with the AAO are available now…

3. MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS ASTRONOMY RESEARCH FOCUS – Planetary Nebulae Planetary nebulae are among the most complex, varied and fascinating of celestial phenomena and they hold the key to determining the physics and time-scales of mass loss and evolution for low- to intermediate-mass stars. They are also vital probes of: - Nucleosynthesis processes - abundance gradients - chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium - plasma physics. The Macquarie/AAO/Strasbourg H-alpha planetary nebulae project: M*A*S*H has essentially doubled Galactic planetary nebula numbers and is having a profound effect on nearly every aspect of PN research.

4. 4 Macquarie is an active, growing centre of astronomical research and is in close proximity to both the AAO and ATNF and there are already established links (jointly supervised masters and PhD students) while the AAO is a customer of the laser micromachining facility These links offer additional synergies and opportunities for co-supervision and collaborations with international partners including industry, particularly in the area of cutting edge photonics as used in astronomical instrumentation. Two $5000 AAO/Macquarie honours scholarships have been set up to build further links. These would be jointly supervised projects between an AAO instrumentation scientist and Macquarie. Other honours/PhD projects are offered in collaboration with AAO research astronomers from within their areas of expertise Jointly supervised PhD projects in instrumentation or direct astronomical research are available MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS ASTRONOMY RESEARCH –LINKS WITH THE AAO