“The University of Southern Queensland has the largest group of exoplanet researchers in Australia, so I was really looking forward to moving here.”
One of the world’s brightest stars in astronomy research has joined the University of Southern Queensland.
Born and raised in a land far, far away, Dr Simon Murphy traveled more than 16,000 light years from his hometown in England to study the Australian sky.
“I moved here nine years ago after receiving my Ph.D.,” Dr. Murphy said.
Dr Murphy outshone his peers at the University of Central Lancashire and graduated aged just 24, making him one of the institution’s youngest PhD students.
He held several postdoctoral positions at the University of Sydney before his latest assignment saw him orbit the University of Southern Queensland.
Here Dr Murphy boldly goes where no man has gone before, teaming up with experts from the University’s Center for Astrophysics to find new planets beyond our solar system.
“These are called exoplanets, and as of this month, more than 5,000 have been discovered,” Dr Murphy said.
“The University of Southern Queensland has the largest group of exoplanet researchers in Australia, so I was really looking forward to moving here.”
“Our research is looking closely at young exoplanets – we know a lot about old exoplanets, but we really want to know more about them as they are forming.”
“My expertise in stellar pulsations helps us figure out how old the stars are, and therefore how old the planets are.”
Using stellar pulsations as clocks, Dr. Murphy tracks the orbital motions of stars through space, from the stellar nursery (where stars are born) to the clusters they call home.
“I also use the pulsations to make inferences about stellar structure, including precise measurements of stellar ages and metallicities,” Dr Murphy said.
“With these, we can recalibrate the ages of stars by determining the ages of the clusters and associations in which they reside.”
Dr Murphy was among 100 early-career researchers awarded a future grant by the Australian Research Council last year – a $94 million plan to find solutions to key industry challenges, while which trains the next generation of researchers.
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