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Structure and composition of the Milky Way and its satellites; stars, brown dwarfs, planets and the ISM

UH astronomers are addressing the key issues of the formation and evolution of cosmic objects that range over scales from high-mass stars to brown dwarfs and exoplanets. Our work includes the study of ultra-metal poor stars that are key witnesses of the first period of star formation in the Milky Way, and mass loss from evolved stars including supernovae.

We study the stellar population of Local Group galaxies, including the Milky Way, to trace age and metallicity gradients as well as their structure using stars in different evolutionary stages.

We lead on a number of major surveys, covering the optical, infrared and sub-mm, that will provide not only new objects to study in greater detail but will also deepen our knowledge of the structure of the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds.

Themes include:

• The Structure and History fo the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds
  • Optical and Infrared Galactic Surveys
  • Chemical evolution
  • The evolution of AGB and post-AGB stars
  • Runaways and hyper-velocity stars
  • White Dwarfs
  • The VISTA survey of the Magellanic System
  • The Magellanic Clouds
  • The Local Group
    
    
• Star formation in the Milky Way
  • Young Stellar Objects
  • The Search for the Earliest Stages of Massive Star Formation
  • Properties of dust grains
    
    
• Extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs
  • RoPACS - Rocky Planets Around Cool Stars
  • PRVS - Searching for Earth-mass Planets
  • Hunting for extrasolar earths via the near infrared transit method
  • Direct Observation of Extrasolar Planets with PLANETPOL
  • Radial Velocity Planet Searches
  • Imaging planets and substellar companions
  • Direct spectroscopic detection of extrasolar planets
  • Probing new temperature regimes between stars and planets
  • Understanding brown dwarfs via benchmark objects
  • Brown dwarfs in star formation regions
  • Nearby and distant brown dwarf searches