supercomputers tagged posts

Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime that travel at the speed of light. These are produced in some of the most violent events in the universe, such as black-hole mergers, supernovae, or the Big Bang itself. Since their first detection in 2015, and after three observing runs, the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors have detected around 100 such waves.

Thanks to these observations, we are starting to unveil the black-hole population of our universe, study gravity in its most extreme regime and even determine the formation of elements like gold or platinum during the merger of neutron stars.

The LIGO and Virgo detectors are nothing but the most precise rulers ever built by humankind, able to measure the subtle squeezing and stretching of spacetime produced by gr...

Optical tweezers manipulate tiny things like cells and nanoparticles using lasers. While they might sound like tractor beams from science fiction, the fact is their development garnered scientists a Nobel Prize in 2018.

Scientists have now used supercomputers to make optica...

Astronomers have published the most detailed images seen of galaxies beyond our own yet, revealing their inner workings in unprecedented detail.

The images were created from data collected by the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), a network of more than 70,000 small antennae spread across nine European countries. The results come from the team’s years of work, led by Dr. Leah Morabito at Durham University. The team was supported in the UK by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

As well as supporting science exploitation, STFC also fu...

Supercomputers dig into first star fossils...