In these two short videos, astronomer Volker Bromm describes simulations he created of galaxy and star formation in the early universe.
These kinds of simulations require months of data crunching at the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Advanced Computing Center, and they help NASA scientists as they prepare new telescopes – like the James Webb Space Telescope – that will peer into the early universe. The simulations help the scientists calibrate the telescopes and give scientists a hint at what they may find when they begin making their observations.
Astronomers will be gathering for a conference, "The First Stars and Galaxies: Challenges for the Next Decade," on campus March 8-11, 2010.
Videos are based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation grant number AST-0708795.
Comments