Supercomputer Simulation Reveals Chaotic Early Milky Way Formed From Violent Cosmic Dawn
Astronomers running a high-powered supercomputer model for three years have mapped how a chaotic tangle of small galaxies, hot gas streams, and intense star-forming regions forged the Milky Way more than 12 billion years ago. The detailed simulation, named the MEGATRON project and described in six papers published in The Open Journal of Astrophysics, tracks galactic development from approximately 180 million years after the Big Bang through the next two billion years.
Led by astronomer Harley Katz at the University of Chicago, the research team built the simulation to incorporate gravity, hydrodynamics, radiation, chemistry, and other physical processes. “In a model, we follow thousands of subsystems and directly calculate how they would all look when observed by our most powerful space telescopes,” Katz said. The computational intensity required three years of continuous supercomputer runs to simulate how gas cools, clusters, and fuels star birth, while smaller galaxies approach, collide, and merge into larger structures.
Starless Glowing Objects and Population III Star Traces
The simulation identified unusual objects acting as galaxies without containing any active stars. Some of these entities likely held stars in the past that have since exploded or collapsed into black holes, while others consisted almost entirely of gas. The model provides clues regarding Population III stars—the first generation of stars in the universe composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium—by showing how they formed in environments similar to the developing Milky Way and indicating where their remnants might be located.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Milky Way Simulation
What telescopes are used to compare with these simulation results?
Astronomers compare the model’s predictions directly with actual observations captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope.
How long did the supercomputer calculations take to complete?
The intensive computational models required three uninterrupted years running on high-performance supercomputers to simulate the 2-billion-year timeline.
What journals published the findings of the MEGATRON project?
The research results were detailed across six papers published in The Open Journal of Astrophysics, utilizing data supported by findings outlined on Phys.org.
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