Created by an international team of scientists and engineers in the US, England and Germany, the computer simulation named Illustris has given researchers a more accurate view of galactic evolution, galactic shape and provided new insight into how matter is distributed across the cosmos.
Containing 12 billion “resolution elements” that span a 350 million light year cubed space, the Illustris simulation is so large it required months to solve and made use of numerous computational facilities.
Although the sheer scope of this simulation is impressive in its own right (it contains 41,416 virtual galaxies) it also highlights a new and reliable method for astronomical research.
In the past, astronomy and cosmology were conducted through observation and theoretical calculation. Today’s researchers – equipped with supercomputers, innovative computer engineers and an excellent scientific foundation – are able to explore the cosmos through the use of simulation. As a result, they are making observations on a larger scale, and they are beginning to find solutions to some of the most puzzling problems in the Universe.
“For the past two decades, cosmologists have been unable to produce galaxies like the Milky Way in their simulations,” says David Spergel, a professor of astronomy at Princeton University. “We have long debated whether this failure was due to complex dark matter physics, unknown stellar feedbacks, or the difficulties in simulating the highly non-linear multi-scale process of galaxy formation … With their simulations, [the researchers] finally produce galaxies that look like our own.”
While observation and ingenious theories will likely be the bread and butter of astronomical and cosmological research for the foreseeable future, simulations are expected to play an increasingly important role in advancing our understanding of the cosmos. Although we’re beginning to see the true potential of massive supercomputing and the gifts it can lend the sciences, I’m pretty sure the next few decades will be littered with breakthroughs in meteorology, nuclear research and other computationally intense fields. Moreover, if simulations can advance those subjects with our current technologies, imagine what science will look like if we ever develop a strong AI.
Image and Video Courtesy of MIT