Unravelling the history of the Milky Way Galaxy and searching for exoplanets through the chemical compositions of stars

Unravelling the history of the Milky Way Galaxy and the search for extrasolar planets are two key themes in modern astronomy. This program is designed to make important headway in both through observations unparalleled in scope underpinned by precise analyses of stellar spectra and the cosmic chemical enrichment. We will make extensive use of two innovative Australian observational facilities -- the $10M HERMES spectrograph and the $13M Skymapper telescope -- and the largest telescopes in the world to search for the first stars born after the Big Bang, find new galaxies in our neighborhood, locate the solar siblings and identify stars likely to harbour planets through the unique information imprinted in the chemical compositions of stars.