Astronomy Lecture - Simulating Astrophysical Objects
Schedule
Fri, 23 Jan, 2026 at 08:00 pm
UTC-08:00Location
1216 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, United States, California 91125 | Pasadena, CA
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How do we simulate the formation and behavior of galaxies, black holes, and planets? How accurate are these simulations and what can they tell us about the real world? Join us for a 30-minute lecture about the astrophysical simulations followed by guided stargazing with telescopes and a panel Q&A consisting of several astrophysicists to answer your questions about astronomy and space science. This public astronomy event will be hosted both in-person as well as live-streamed over YouTube Live. The lecture will be 30 minutes, followed by a 90-minute session of telescope-aided stargazing and a Q&A Panel consisting of experts in the department on a variety of astronomy and astrophysical topics. You can attend in person or interact with us through the YouTube interface. Event is free and open to all, no reservations necessary.
For more information including a link to the YouTube Livestream and directions to Caltech, click on the poster image or visit our webpage: http://outreach.astro.caltech.edu
Title: Simulating Galaxies, Stars, Planets, and Giant Black Holes on a Computer
Lecturer: Phil Hopkins
Abstract:
Many astrophysical objects: planets, the stars those planets orbit, the galaxies made up of those stars, and the “super-massive” black holes at the centers of those galaxies, are believed to form from fundamentally the same process, gravity pulling together material and concentrating it. Just modeling that is challenging enough, and often requires massive supercomputer simulations. But if gravity was the only thing that mattered, our Universe would look completely different from what we see. Instead, gravity must compete against a number of “feedback” processes which push back against it: material condensing into these dense objects can launch incredibly fast-moving outflows and winds, as well as copious amounts of radiation (how we see them in the first place!) which in turn heats up the gas and dust falling in and opposes gravity. The most massive stars explode as supernovae, and the most rapidly-growing black holes shine as quasars, the brightest sources in the Universe. Modeling the balance or “feedback” between these different processes is challenging from both a physics and computational point of view, and this is why we can still be surprised by fascinating new types of objects being discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope (perhaps the first galaxies, stars, and giant black holes?). But there has been remarkable progress on the theory and computation side to keep pace with new discoveries, and together these advances have transformed our view of the origins of these seemingly-disparate objects.
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Where is it happening?
1216 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, United States, California 91125Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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