by Benson Agoha
Astronomers have created a `realistic' virtual simulation of the Universe, according a new publication by Cambridge Research last week.
The first simulation of its type tracked 13 billion years of cosmic evolution in an attempt to create real version of the Universe that will enable researchers to understand how galaxies, black holes and other cosmic phenomena evolved till the present day.
* Twitter: @woolwichonline.
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* Source/Photo Credit: Cambridge University.
Astronomers have created a `realistic' virtual simulation of the Universe, according a new publication by Cambridge Research last week.
The first simulation of its type tracked 13 billion years of cosmic evolution in an attempt to create real version of the Universe that will enable researchers to understand how galaxies, black holes and other cosmic phenomena evolved till the present day.
* The First Realistic Universe Created by Astronomers.
A newly-developed computer simulation, known as Illustris, "follows the complex development of both normal and dark matter over 13 billion years, matching many of the features observed in the real Universe for the first time."
The international team of researchers, using the new method, studied the development of the Universe from 12 million years after the Big Bang up to the present.
They identified more than 41,000 galaxies in a cube of simulated space, 350 million light years on each side, according to the report.
Accoding to the report, previous attempts to simulate the universe were hampered by lack of computing power and the complexities of the underlying physics. As a result those programs either were limited in resolution, or forced to focus on a small portion of the universe.
Dr Mark Vogelsberger of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University who led the study acknowledged the previous limitations saying “Until now, no single simulation was able to reproduce the Universe on both large and small scales simultaneously.”
The Dr Vogelsberger's team conducted the work in collaboration with researchers at the University of Cambridge, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies.
Talking about the newly developed technique Dr Debora Sijacki of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy and co-author of one of the papers said “The Illustris simulation is a remarkable technical achievement.”
“It shows us for the first time how the bewildering variety of galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their centres have formed.”
Since light travels at a fixed speed, the farther away astronomers look, the farther back in time they can see, the cambridge report said.
The results are reported in the May 8th issue of the journal Nature.
Co-author, Harvard University's Dr Shy Genel agreed with Dr. Sijacki on Illustris saying “Illustris is like a time machine. We can go forward and backward in time. We can pause the simulation and zoom into a single galaxy or galaxy cluster to see what’s really going on.”
To read the full Cambridge Research report, click >>> [REALISTIC VIRTUAL UNIVERSE CREATED].
The international team of researchers, using the new method, studied the development of the Universe from 12 million years after the Big Bang up to the present.
They identified more than 41,000 galaxies in a cube of simulated space, 350 million light years on each side, according to the report.
Accoding to the report, previous attempts to simulate the universe were hampered by lack of computing power and the complexities of the underlying physics. As a result those programs either were limited in resolution, or forced to focus on a small portion of the universe.
Dr Mark Vogelsberger of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University who led the study acknowledged the previous limitations saying “Until now, no single simulation was able to reproduce the Universe on both large and small scales simultaneously.”
The Dr Vogelsberger's team conducted the work in collaboration with researchers at the University of Cambridge, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies.
Talking about the newly developed technique Dr Debora Sijacki of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy and co-author of one of the papers said “The Illustris simulation is a remarkable technical achievement.”
“It shows us for the first time how the bewildering variety of galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their centres have formed.”
Since light travels at a fixed speed, the farther away astronomers look, the farther back in time they can see, the cambridge report said.
The results are reported in the May 8th issue of the journal Nature.
Co-author, Harvard University's Dr Shy Genel agreed with Dr. Sijacki on Illustris saying “Illustris is like a time machine. We can go forward and backward in time. We can pause the simulation and zoom into a single galaxy or galaxy cluster to see what’s really going on.”
To read the full Cambridge Research report, click >>> [REALISTIC VIRTUAL UNIVERSE CREATED].
* Twitter: @woolwichonline.
* Facebook: Woolwich Online.
* Source/Photo Credit: Cambridge University.
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