Prof. Claude-André Faucher-Giguère
Postdoctoral Fellow Mike Grudić
A team including Northwestern University astrophysicists has developed the most realistic, highest-resolution 3D simulation of star formation to date. The result is a visually stunning, mathematically-driven marvel that allows viewers to float around a colorful gas cloud in 3D space while watching twinkling stars emerge.
Called STARFORGE (Star Formation in Gaseous Environments), the computational framework is the first to simulate an entire gas cloud — 100 times more massive than previously possible and full of vibrant colors — where stars are born.
It also is the first simulation to simultaneously model star formation, evolution and dynamics while accounting for stellar feedback, including jets, radiation, wind and nearby supernovae activity. While other simulations have incorporated individual types of stellar feedback, STARFORGE puts them altogether to simulate how these various processes interact to affect star formation.
Using this beautiful virtual laboratory, the researchers aim to explore longstanding questions, including why star formation is slow and inefficient, what determines a star’s mass and why stars tend to form in clusters.
Continue to the full Northwestern News story by Amanda Morris.
Media Mentions
- CNN Online, “This is what it looks like when a star is born” by Ashley Strickland
- CNET, “Astronomers create most realistic simulation of stars being born — and it’s beautiful” by Jackson Ryan
- The Science Times, “How are Stars Born? Computer Simulation Realistically Shows Breathtaking Stellar Formation” by Aubrey Clark
- The Independent, “SCIENTISTS BUILD ‘STARFORGE’, WORLD’S MOST REALISTIC SIMULATION OF STARS BEING BORN” by Adam Smith
- Daily Mail, “A star is born! Stunning simulation is the first high-resolution model to show an entire gas cloud where stars are formed” by Ryan Morrison
- Science Alert, “This Jaw-Dropping Simulation Gives Us Our Best Look Yet at Baby Stars Being Born” by Michelle Star
- Tech Explorist, “The most realistic, highest-resolution 3D simulation of star formation to date” by Amit Malewar
- Mashable, “Watch a spectacular star creation video made by astronomers” by Mark Kaufman
This is a movie of the first numerical simulation of star formation in a massive (20,000 solar mass) giant molecular cloud with individual star formation and a comprehensive treatment of feedback, from protostellar jets, radiation in 5 frequency bands, stellar winds, and core-collapse supernovae. This makes it the first full STARFORGE simulation. This particular cloud has been nicknamed the “Anvil of Creation”.
Visit http://starforge.space to see more movies or learn more about the STARFORGE project.