A new simulation from a NASA supercomputer has revealed how galaxies evolve by eating the gas spread through space around them.<\/p>\n
When stars reach the end of their life cycle they can explode as a supernova, blowing gas formed of elements made inside the star back into space.<\/p>\n
This gas and dust collects into enormous clouds which can eventually collapse, leading to anywhere between dozens to tens of thousands of stars forming almost simultaneously.<\/p>\n
Without showing the light from the stars themselves, the NASA simulation depicts gases moving in and out of an evolving galaxy over 13 billion years.<\/p>\n
It shows gases in a range of colours, from purple to yellow, to indicate the density of the gas where purple is the lower density gas and yellow is higher density.<\/p>\n
There are blue and red colours which indicate the temperature of the gas too.<\/p>\n
What the supercomputer simulation reveals is how colder, denser gas flows in along cosmic filaments to the spots where stars are forming.<\/p>\n
When these stars explode as supernovae they blast galactic superwinds out of the galaxy, and these are the less dense hotter gases in the simulation.<\/p>\n
\"As there is more star formation and thus more supernovae at early times, these winds become calmer as the galaxy evolves,\" according to NASA.<\/p>\n
\"Unlike bright galaxies that emit plenty of light for us to observe, it's far more difficult to see the dark gases in the unlit corners of the cosmos,\" said NASA.<\/p>\n
\"One way to do this is by finding bright sources of light - such as other galaxies - and measuring how these gases absorb that light, to get a glimpse of what's in these hidden areas.<\/p>\n
\"Scientists use such 'cosmic lighthouses' to illuminate this cosmic fog rolling in from the dark 'oceans' between galaxies,\" NASA explained.<\/p>\n
But interpreting the data from these observations is very difficult.<\/p>\n
Powerful and complicated supercomputer simulations are carried out using the Pleiades supercomputer at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at the Ames Research Centre in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n
The simulations are then matched up with observations from the Hubble space telescope to extrapolate the properties of the gas hidden between galaxies.<\/p>\n
NASA said: \"The results tell us that this space is far from empty. It has complex structures made of churning, turbulent gases and small clouds, as well as extreme temperatures.<\/p>\n
\"Light is one of our few tools to directly observe the cosmos, but combined with scientific ingenuity and supercomputing, we can uncover so much more.\"<\/p>\n
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Link:<\/p>\n
Supercomputer simulation reveals how galaxies eat gas and evolve - Sky News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new simulation from a NASA supercomputer has revealed how galaxies evolve by eating the gas spread through space around them. Continue reading