The life-stories of galaxies from stellar fossils

Stars hold the key to unveil the events that occurred throughout the history of our Galaxy, from the beginning oftime until today. Their atmospheres retain a fossil record of the composition of the interstellar medium at the timeof their formation, and the twinkling of their light tells us about their ages. An unprecedented suite of ongoingobservational programs makes it now possible for this project to derive stellar ages and chemical compositions, todraw for the first time the precise evolutionary history of our Galaxy. The innovative, well-timed way of combiningdata from space-borne satellites and large Australian ground-based surveys will also lead to new insights inunderstanding galaxy formation as a whole.