Simulations
We Finally Understand how Black Holes can Release Powerful Flares
While black holes might always be black, they do occasionally emit some intense bursts of light from just outside their…
You Can Blow Up an Asteroid Just a few Months Before it Hits Earth and Prevent 99% of the Damage
So far, the battle between life on Earth and asteroids has been completely one-sided. But not for long. Soon, we'll…
Simulating the Universe a Trillionth of a Second After the Big Bang
The Big Bang remains the best way to explain what happened at the beginning of the Universe. However, the…
New Supercomputer Simulations Will Help pin Down Inflation
In the very earliest moments of the big bang, the universe experienced a period of rapid expansion known as inflation.…
Simulations of the Universe are Getting Better and Better at Matching Reality
How can you possibly use simulations to reconstruct the history of the entire universe using only a small sample of…
A New Study Says That Betelgeuse Won’t Be Exploding Any Time Soon
I have stood under Orion The Hunter on clear evenings willing its star Betelgeuse to explode. “C'mon, blow up!” In…
Black Holes Simulated in a Tank of Water Reveals “Backreaction” for the First Time
Water simulations that small gravitational waves near a black hole can significantly change the black hole's behavior.
This is a Simulation of the Interstellar Medium Flowing Like Smoke Throughout the Milky Way
How do stars form? We know they form from massive structures called molecular clouds, which themselves form from the Interstellar…
Supercomputer Simulation Shows a Supernova 300 Days After it Explodes
The answers to many questions in astronomy are hidden behind the veil of deep time. One of those questions is…
What Will the James Webb Space Telescope See? A Whole Bunch of Dust, That’s What
When it comes to the first galaxies, the James Webb Space Telescope will attempt to understand the formation of those…