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Department of Astrophysics

Department of Astrophysics

  • Launch your Space Career

  • Arcturus

    Photo by Ben Moore

  • Probing supermassive black holes: Simulations reveal a new pattern in torn-apart stars

    Simulations conducted by Lucio Mayer’s team at the University of Zurich, together with colleagues in Italy, the UK, and the US, on CSCS’s Alps supercomputer using the new GPU-based code SPH-EXA, show in unprecedented detail how a star is torn apart by a black hole, producing a signal that can reveal its presence.

  • Elephant's Trunk Nebula (IC 1396A)

    This iconic emission nebula is a striking region of active star formation embedded within the much larger IC 1396 emission complex in the constellation Cepheus. The dark “trunk” seen in the image is a dense column of cold molecular gas and dust being shaped by radiation and stellar winds from nearby massive stars.

  • Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146)

    The Cocoon nebula in the constellation of Cygnus is a beautiful cloud of gas and dust that glows due to the absorption of ultraviolet light from the bright young central star which is then reemitted in the visual part of the spectrum.

How did the universe form?
What are the conditions for life?
What is the origin of stars and planets in the Milky Way galaxy?

Natural sciences rely on confronting mathematical models with experiments. Numerical simulations, often referred to as The Third Way, play a key role by bridging theory and experiment in a powerful way. Simulations enable the exploration of new ideas, they help validate the accuracy of theoretical predictions, and they can minimise cost by reducing the number of expensive experiments, and in many cases simulations are the only means of testing models or predicting the behavior of complex non-linear systems.
Natural sciences also relies on the systematic exploration of experimental data in order to extract meaning and aid their interpretation, or to discover new medicines or novel classifications. This approach relies heavily on statistical tools. Data science is now playing an active role in many fields of the natural sciences to promote innovative research and to explore experimental or simulation data.