Adolescent Stars and Planets in our Neighbourhood from Gaia and FunnelWeb

This project aims to understand how infant stars in their stellar nurseries reach adulthood in the Galactic disk, and to use this newly found knowledge to link stellar birth to the presence and evolution of adolescent planetary systems. The billion dollar Gaia satellite will revolutionise the study of stellar adolescence, with data beginning to flow with an initial public release this year. These data will be significantly augmented with FunnelWeb - the largest star survey of its kind, covering the entire Southern sky. This project will innovatively combine these data sets, identifying the birthplace of the majority of nearby adolescent stars in the Southern sky and aiding in the discovery and characterisation of their planetary systems.