Dr Simon Murphy
- PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2012, Australian National University
I was awarded my PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics at the Australian National University in 2012. My thesis examined populations of young stars in the southern sky, particularly around the nearby open clusters Eta and Epsilon Chamaeleontis. During 2013-2014 I was the Gliese Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where I identified new stellar moving group members using data from the Gaia satellite astrometry mission. I returned to Australia in 2015 to work on the ANU Sk...
I was awarded my PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics at the Australian National University in 2012. My thesis examined populations of young stars in the southern sky, particularly around the nearby open clusters Eta and Epsilon Chamaeleontis. During 2013-2014 I was the Gliese Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where I identified new stellar moving group members using data from the Gaia satellite astrometry mission. I returned to Australia in 2015 to work on the ANU SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey and in 2016 I took up a Vice Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at UNSW Canberra. I am now a Lecturer in Astrophysics in the School of Science where I teach physics and astronomy courses and conduct research into young, low-mass stars in the Solar neighbourhood.
- Publications
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Teaching and Supervision
- 2016-2020: Vice Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, University of New South Wales
My research interests focus on identifying and characterising some of the youngest stars in the Solar neighbourhood. These young, nearby star systems are ideal laboratories for understanding early stellar evolution and probing the diverse conditions under which stars and, importantly, planets form. To accomplish this I use observations from a variety of telescopes, opens in a new window and satellites, opens in a new window, including the latest all-sky surveys, opens in a new window here in Australia. I am also interested in the international Virtual Observatory, opens in a new window effort, which is developing standards for the discovery, exchange and analysis of astronomical data by computers and astronomers alike.
My Research Supervision
- Evans Owusu (PhD): Tracing Thermonuclear Supernovae Progenitors of the Milky Way (co-supervisor)
My Teaching
Teaching in 2023:
- ZPEM1503: Engineering Physics 1A (convener)
- ZPEM1504: Engineering Physics 1B (lecturer)
- ZPEM2509: Astrophysics (lecturer)
- ZPEM3532: Advanced Topics in Physics & Oceanography (project supervisor)