{ "count": 64, "next": null, "previous": null, "results": [ { "id": 14884, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14884/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2026-01-29T11:00:00-05:00", "title": "NASA Supercomputer Probes Tangled Magnetospheres of Merging Neutron Stars", "description": "New supercomputer simulations explore the tangled magnetic structures around merging neutron stars. These structures, called magnetospheres, interact as the city-sized stars enter their final orbits. Magnetic field lines can connect both stars, break, and reconnect, while currents surge through surrounding plasma moving at nearly the speed of light. The simulations show that these systems may produce X-rays and gamma rays that future observatories should be able to detect. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterAlt text: Narrated video introducing simulations of merging neutron star magnetospheresMusic: “A Theory Develops,” Pip Heywood [PRS], Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || NS_Binary_Sim_Still.jpg (5760x3240) [1.4 MB] || NS_Binary_Sim_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [67.6 KB] || NS_Binary_Sim_Still_thm.png (80x40) [5.2 KB] || 14884_NeutronStarBinarySim2_good.mp4 (1920x1080) [220.4 MB] || 14884_NeutronStarBinarySim2_best.mp4 (1920x1080) [363.9 MB] || NeutronStarBinarySimulationCaptions.en_US.srt [2.4 KB] || NeutronStarBinarySimulationCaptions.en_US.vtt [2.2 KB] || 14884_NeutronStarBinarySim2_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [1.7 GB] || ", "hits": 591 }, { "id": 14793, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14793/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2025-05-27T20:55:00-04:00", "title": "Black Holes Vertical Video", "description": "This page collects Astrophysics vertical videos with black-hole-related content", "hits": 2394 }, { "id": 14749, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14749/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2025-01-14T10:00:00-05:00", "title": "OpenUniverse: Simulated Universe Views for Roman", "description": "This video begins with a tiny one-square-degree portion of the full OpenUniverse simulation area (about 70 square degrees, equivalent to an area of sky covered by more than 300 full moons). It spirals in toward a particularly galaxy-dense region, zooming by a factor of 75. This simulation showcases the cosmos as NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could see it, allowing scientists to preview the next generation of cosmic discovery now. Roman’s real future surveys will enable a deep dive into the universe with highly resolved imaging, as demonstrated in this video.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and M. Troxel || OpenUniverseFullZoom_4k_Best.00001_print.jpg (1024x576) [111.9 KB] || OpenUniverseFullZoom_4k_Good.mp4 (3840x2160) [101.9 MB] || OpenUniverseFullZoom_4k_Best.mp4 (3840x2160) [249.3 MB] || OpenUniverseFullZoom_ProRes_3840x2160_30.mov (3840x2160) [2.9 GB] || ", "hits": 307 }, { "id": 14719, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14719/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2024-11-13T09:00:00-05:00", "title": "Swift Studies Gas-Churning Monster Black Holes", "description": "Watch as a gas cloud encounters two supermassive black holes. The complex interplay of gravitational and frictional forces causes the cloud to condense and heat. Some of the gas is ejected from the system with each orbit of the black holes.Credit: F. Goicovic et al. 2016Music: \"Forgotten Fortunes,\" Magnum Opus [ASCAP] , Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available. || Sim_Video_Still.jpg (3840x2160) [744.6 KB] || Sim_Video_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [37.6 KB] || Sim_Video_Still_thm.png (80x40) [3.4 KB] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_1080_Final.mp4 (1920x1080) [38.5 MB] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_4k_Final.mp4 (3840x2160) [45.5 MB] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_4k_Final_best.mp4 (3840x2160) [67.9 MB] || 14719_BinaryBHTDE_Captions.en_US.srt [57 bytes] || 14719_BinaryBHTDE_Captions.en_US.vtt [67 bytes] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_4k_Final_ProRes.mov (3840x2160) [1.5 GB] || ", "hits": 183 }, { "id": 14576, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14576/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2024-05-06T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "NASA Black Hole Visualization Takes Viewers Beyond the Brink", "description": "In this flight toward a supermassive black hole, labels highlight many of the fascinating features produced by the effects of general relativity along the way. This supercomputer visualization tracks a camera as it approaches, briefly orbits, and then crosses the event horizon — the point of no return — of a supersized black hole similar in mass to the one at the center of our galaxy. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/J. Schnittman and B. PowellMusic: “Tidal Force,” Thomas Daniel Bellingham [PRS], Universal Production Music“Memories” from Digital Juice“Path Finder,” Eric Jacobsen [TONO] and Lorenzo Castellarin [BMI], Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || 14576_BHPlunge_Explain_Still.jpg (3840x2160) [1.2 MB] || 14576_PageThumbnail.jpg (3840x2160) [1.2 MB] || 14576_PageThumbnail_searchweb.png (180x320) [85.0 KB] || 14576_PageThumbnail_thm.png (80x40) [9.6 KB] || 14576_BHPlunge_Explainer_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [319.5 MB] || 14576_BHPlunge_Explainer_Captions.en_US.srt [2.5 KB] || 14576_BHPlunge_Explainer_Captions.en_US.vtt [2.4 KB] || 14576_BHPlunge_Explainer_4k.mp4 (3840x2160) [1.5 GB] || 14576_BHPlunge_Explainer_4kYouTube.mp4 (3840x2160) [3.0 GB] || 14576_BHPlunge_Explainer_ProRes_3840x2160_2997.mov (3840x2160) [12.8 GB] || ", "hits": 1991 }, { "id": 14402, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14402/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2023-09-20T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "Simulated Gravitational Wave All-Sky Image", "description": "Watch as gravitational waves from a simulated population of compact binary systems combine into a synthetic map of the entire sky. Such systems contain white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes in tight orbits. Maps like this using real data will be possible once space-based gravitational wave observatories become active in the next decade. The center of our Milky Way galaxy lies at the center of this all-sky view, with the galactic plane extending across the middle. Brighter spots indicate sources with stronger signals and lighter colors indicate those with higher frequencies. Larger colored patches show sources whose positions are less well known. The inset shows the frequency and strength of the gravitational signal, as well as the sensitivity limit for LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), an observatory now being designed by ESA (European Space Agency) in collaboration with NASA for launch in the 2030s.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Shadowless\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA.gov Video YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || LISA_AllSky_withInset_Still.jpg (2985x1497) [795.1 KB] || LISA_AllSky_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [22.8 MB] || LISA_AllSky_1080.webm (1920x1080) [2.5 MB] || LISA_AllSky_4k.mp4 (3840x2160) [60.4 MB] || LISA_AllSky_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [205 bytes] || LISA_AllSky_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [218 bytes] || LISA_AllSky_ProRes_3840x2160_30.mov (3840x2160) [992.4 MB] || ", "hits": 107 }, { "id": 14301, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14301/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2023-03-08T10:00:00-05:00", "title": "Millions of Galaxies Emerge in New Simulated Images From NASA's Roman", "description": "This video begins by showing the most distant galaxies in the simulated deep field image in red. As it zooms out, layers of nearer (yellow and white) galaxies are added to the frame. By studying different cosmic epochs, Roman will be able to trace the universe's expansion history, study how galaxies developed over time, and much more.Credit: Caltech-IPAC/R. Hurt and M. Troxel || Roman_Zoom_still.jpg (1920x1080) [515.9 KB] || Roman_Zoom_still_searchweb.png (320x180) [106.4 KB] || Roman_Zoom_still_thm.png (80x40) [6.6 KB] || Roman_Zoom-HD2K.mp4 (1920x1080) [25.3 MB] || Roman_Zoom-HD2K.webm (1920x1080) [2.7 MB] || ", "hits": 189 }, { "id": 14297, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14297/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2023-03-01T10:00:00-05:00", "title": "How NASA's Roman Space Telescope Will Rewind the Universe", "description": "In this simulated view of the deep cosmos, each dot represents a galaxy. The three small squares show Hubble's field of view, and each reveals a different region of the synthetic universe. Roman will be able to quickly survey an area as large as the whole zoomed-out image, which will give us a glimpse of the universe’s largest structures.Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/A. Yung || Yung_Stucture_Survey-Hubble.gif (800x800) [10.9 MB] || Yung_Structure_Survey-Hubble_ProRes.mov (800x800) [36.3 MB] || Yung_Structure_Survey-Hubble_800.mp4 (800x800) [6.4 MB] || Yung_Structure_Survey-Hubble_800.webm (800x800) [1.6 MB] || ", "hits": 108 }, { "id": 14209, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14209/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2023-01-09T17:10:00-05:00", "title": "NASA’s Compton Mission Glimpses Supersized Neutron Stars", "description": "This simulation tracks the gravitational wave and density changes as two orbiting neutron stars crash together. Dark purple colors represent the lowest densities, while yellow-white shows the highest. An audible tone and a visual frequency scale (at left) track the steady rise in the frequency of gravitational waves as the neutron stars close. When the objects merge at 42 seconds, the gravitational waves suddenly jump to frequencies of thousands of hertz and bounce between two primary tones (quasiperiodic oscillations, or QPOs). The presence of these signals in such simulations led to the search and discovery of similar phenomena in the light emitted by short gamma-ray bursts.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and STAG Research Centre/Peter HammondComplete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Visual description:On a black background with a faint gray grid, two multicolored blobs representing merging neutron stars circle and close. The colors indicate density. Yellow-white indicates the highest densities, at the centers of the objects. The colors change to orange and red at their periphery, with purple colors representing matter torn from and swirling with the neutron stars as they orbit. The grid shrinks as the camera pulls back to capture a wider view of the merger. A pale orange display at left shows the changing frequency of the gravitational waves generated, which is also indicated by the rising tone. As the merger occurs, the screen shows a spinning yellow blob at center immersed in a large cloud of magneta and purple debris. || Merger_Simulation_Annotated_Still_2.jpg (1920x1080) [180.7 KB] || 14209_Hypermassive_QPO_Simulation_Zoom_YOUTUBE_1080.webm (1920x1080) [12.1 MB] || 14209_Hypermassive_QPO_Simulation_Zoom_YOUTUBE_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [129.3 MB] || 14209_Hypermassive_QPO_Simulation_Zoom_YOUTUBE_BEST_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [161.8 MB] || 14209_NS_Merger_QPO_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [1.6 KB] || 14209_NS_Merger_QPO_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [1.6 KB] || 14209_Hypermassive_QPO_Simulation_Zoom_YOUTUBE_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [1.0 GB] || ", "hits": 233 }, { "id": 14203, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14203/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2022-11-15T13:00:00-05:00", "title": "Simulations of Weak Black Hole Jets", "description": "This sequence shows the simulated evolution of weak jets (orange, pink, and purple) formed by a supermassive black hole as they interact with stars and gas clouds (green, yellow) at the center of a galaxy. The jet is angled about 15 degrees toward the plane of its galaxy and is shown in 12 time steps, with each interval representing 50,000 years. The image at bottom right shows the jets 600,000 years after they formed. Each step is available as a 4K video and as frames by selecting \"Download Options.\"Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/R. Tanner and K. Weaver || AGN_time_series_Numbered_print.jpg (1024x576) [109.6 KB] || AGN_time_series_Numbered.jpg (3840x2160) [982.9 KB] || Step1 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step1_4k_30.webm (4000x4000) [3.2 MB] || Step12 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step12_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [15.0 MB] || Step11 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step11_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [15.0 MB] || Step10 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step10_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [14.9 MB] || Step9 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step9_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [15.0 MB] || Step8 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step8_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [15.0 MB] || Step7 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step7_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [15.0 MB] || Step6 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step1_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [15.1 MB] || Step5 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step5_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [15.0 MB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step2_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [15.0 MB] || Step4 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step4_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [15.0 MB] || Step2 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step6_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [14.9 MB] || Step3 (4000x4000) [16.0 KB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step3_4k_30.mp4 (4000x4000) [15.0 MB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step10_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [3.1 GB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step1_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [387.2 MB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step2_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [864.7 MB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step12_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [3.3 GB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step3_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [1.4 GB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step11_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [3.2 GB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step4_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [1.9 GB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step9_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [2.9 GB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step5_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [2.4 GB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step8_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [2.8 GB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step7_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [2.8 GB] || AGNwinds_TimeEvolution_Step6_ProRes_4k_30.mov (4000x4000) [2.7 GB] || ", "hits": 169 }, { "id": 14132, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14132/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2022-04-12T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Black Hole Week: Black Hole GIFs", "description": "Black Hole WeekThis page provides social media assets used during previous celebrations of Black Hole Week. Join in! Below, you'll find many GIFs to use. || ", "hits": 540 }, { "id": 13921, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13921/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2022-01-10T10:00:00-05:00", "title": "The Roman Space Telescope's Simulated Ultra-Deep Field Image", "description": "This video demonstrates how Roman could expand on Hubble’s iconic Ultra Deep Field image. While a similar Roman observation would be just as sharp as Hubble’s and see equally far back in time, it could reveal an area 300 times larger, offering a much broader view of cosmic ecosystems. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Subterranean Secret\" and \"Expectant Aspect\" from Universal Production Music.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || SUDF_Footprint_print.jpg (1024x576) [232.0 KB] || SUDF_Footprint.jpg (3840x2160) [2.7 MB] || SUDF_Footprint_thm.png (80x40) [4.3 KB] || SUDF_Footprint_searchweb.png (320x180) [71.2 KB] || SUDF_Footprint_web.png (320x180) [71.2 KB] || 13921_Roman_Simulated_UDF_1080.webm (1920x1080) [24.4 MB] || 13921_Roman_Simulated_UDF_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [3.8 KB] || 13921_Roman_Simulated_UDF_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [3.9 KB] || 13921_Roman_Simulated_UDF_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [3.0 GB] || 13921_Roman_Simulated_UDF_1080_Best.mp4 (1920x1080) [439.7 MB] || 13921_Roman_Simulated_UDF_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [228.8 MB] || ", "hits": 150 }, { "id": 14000, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14000/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2021-11-26T10:00:00-05:00", "title": "Supercomputer Simulations Test Star-destroying Black Holes", "description": "Watch eight model stars stretch and deform as they approach a virtual black hole 1 million times the mass of the Sun. The black hole’s gravity rips some stars apart into a stream of gas, a phenomenon called a tidal disruption event. Others manage to withstand their close encounters. These simulations show that destruction and survival depend on the stars’ initial densities. Yellow represents the greatest densities, blue the least dense. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Taeho Ryu (MPA)Music: \"Lava Flow Instrumental\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || 14000_TDE_Simulation_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [205.0 KB] || 14000_TDE_Simulation_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [42.8 KB] || 14000_TDE_Simulation_Still_thm.png (80x40) [4.9 KB] || 14000_TDE_Simulation_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.0 GB] || 14000_TDE_Simulation_Best_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [357.4 MB] || 14000_TDE_Simulation_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [164.7 MB] || 14000_TDE_Simulation_1080.webm (1920x1080) [17.6 MB] || 14000_TDE_Simulation_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [2.7 KB] || 14000_TDE_Simulation_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [2.7 KB] || ", "hits": 147 }, { "id": 13831, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13831/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2021-04-15T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "NASA Visualization Probes the Doubly Warped World of Binary Black Holes", "description": "Explore how the extreme gravity of two orbiting supermassive black holes distorts our view. In this visualization, disks of bright, hot, churning gas encircle both black holes, shown in red and blue to better track the light source. The red disk orbits the larger black hole, which weighs 200 million times the mass of our Sun, while its smaller blue companion weighs half as much. Zooming into each black hole reveals multiple, increasingly warped images of its partner. Watch to learn more. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman and Brian P. PowellMusic: \"Gravitational Field\" from Orbit. Written and produced by Lars Leonhard.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Supermassive_BlackHole_Binary_Still.jpg (3840x2160) [726.7 KB] || Supermassive_BlackHole_Binary_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [18.9 KB] || Supermassive_BlackHole_Binary_Still_thm.png (80x40) [2.5 KB] || 13831_BlackHoleBinary_Simulation_1080.webm (1920x1080) [23.8 MB] || 13831_BlackHoleBinary_Simulation_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [234.7 MB] || 13831_BlackHoleBinary_Simulation_4k.mp4 (3840x2160) [348.3 MB] || 13831_BlackHoleBinary_Simulation_4k_Best.mp4 (3840x2160) [936.6 MB] || 13831_BlackHoleBinary_Simulation_ProRes_3840x2160_30.mov (3840x2160) [4.1 GB] || 13831_BlackHoleBinary_Simulation_4k_Best.mp4.hwshow [137 bytes] || ", "hits": 394 }, { "id": 10662, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10662/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2021-04-14T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Webb Science Simulations: Planetary Systems and Origins of Life", "description": "Supercomputer simulations of planeratry evolution. Part 1: Turbulent Molecular Cloud Nebula with Protostellar ObjectsThe Advanced Visualization Laboratory (AVL) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) collaborated with NASA and Drs. Alexei Kritsuk and Michael Norman to visualize a computational data set of a turbulent molecular cloud nebula forming protostellar objects and accretion disks approximately 100 AU in diameter, on the order of the size of our solar system. AVL used its Amore software to interpolate and render the Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) simulation generated from ENZO code for cosmology and astrophysics. The AMR simulation was developed by Drs. Kritsuk and Norman at the Laboratory for Computational Astrophysics. The AMR simulation generated more than 2 terabytes of data and follows star formation processes in a self-gravitating turbulent molecular cloud with a dynamic range of half-a-million in linear scale, resolving both the large-scale filamentary structure of the molecular cloud (~5 parsec) and accretion disks around emerging young protostellar objects (down to 2 AU). Part 2: Protoplanetary Disk and Planet FormationThe Advanced Visualization Laboratory (AVL) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) collaborated with NASA and Dr. Aaron Boley to visualize the 16,000 year evolution of a young, isolated protoplanetary disk which surrounds a newly-formed protostar. The disk forms spiral arms and a dense clump as a result of gravitational collapse. Dr. Aaron Boley developed this computational model to investigate the response of young disks to mass accretion from their surrounding envelopes, including the direct formation of planets and brown dwarfs through gravitational instability. The main formation mechanism for gas giant planets has been debated within the scientific community for over a decade. One of these theories is 'direct formation through gravitational instability.' If the self-gravity of the gas overwhelms the disk's thermal pressure and the stabilizing effect of differential rotation, the gas closest to the protostar rotates faster than gas farther away. In this scenario, regions of the gaseous disk collapse and form a planet directly. The study, presented in Boley (2009), explores whether mass accretion in the outer regions of disks can lead to such disk fragmentation. The simulations show that clumps can form in situ at large disk radii. If the clumps survive, they can become gas giants on wide orbits, e.g., Fomalhaut b, or even more massive objects called brown dwarfs. Whether a disk forms planets at large radii and, if so, the number of planets that form, depend on how much of the envelope mass is distributed at large distances from the protostar. The results of the simulations suggest that there are two modes of gas giant planet formation. The first mode occurs early in the disk's lifetime, at large radii, and through the disk instability mechanism. After the main accretion phase is over, gas giants can form in the inner disk, over a period of a million years, through the core accretion mechanism, which researchers are addressing in other studies.Thanks to R. H. Durisen, L. Mayer, and G. Lake for comments and discussions relating to this research. This study was supported in part by the University of Zurich, Institute for Theoretical Physics, and by a Swiss Federal Grant. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center.AVL at NCSA, University of Illinois. || ", "hits": 339 }, { "id": 13197, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13197/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2020-02-11T09:00:00-05:00", "title": "Gravitational Wave Simulations of Merging Black Holes: 1080 and 8k Resolutions", "description": "This visualization shows gravitational waves emitted by two black holes (black spheres) of nearly equal mass as they spiral together and merge. Yellow structures near the black holes illustrate the strong curvature of space-time in the region. Orange ripples represent distortions of space-time caused by the rapidly orbiting masses. These distortions spread out and weaken, ultimately becoming gravitational waves (purple). The merger timescale depends on the masses of the black holes. For a system containing black holes with about 30 times the sun’s mass, similar to the one detected by LIGO in 2015, the orbital period at the start of the movie is just 65 milliseconds, with the black holes moving at about 15 percent the speed of light. Space-time distortions radiate away orbital energy and cause the binary to contract quickly. As the two black holes near each other, they merge into a single black hole that settles into its \"ringdown\" phase, where the final gravitational waves are emitted. For the 2015 LIGO detection, these events played out in little more than a quarter of a second. This simulation was performed on the Pleiades supercomputer at NASA's Ames Research Center. Fixed view.Credit: NASA/Bernard J. Kelly (Goddard and Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County), Chris Henze (Ames) and Tim Sandstrom (CSC Government Solutions LLC)Watch this video on the NASAgovVideo YouTube channel. || Merger_Fixed_Still.png (1920x1080) [1.2 MB] || Merger_Fixed_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [59.6 KB] || BH_merger_fixed_camera_close_H264_YouTube_720p.mp4 (1280x720) [65.5 MB] || BH_merger_fixed_camera_close_H264_YouTube_1080p.mp4 (1920x1080) [65.2 MB] || BH_merger_fixed_camera_close_H264_YouTube_720p.webm (1280x720) [3.9 MB] || BH_merger_fixed_camera_close_ProRes_1920x1080.mov (1920x1080) [1.1 GB] || ", "hits": 360 }, { "id": 13326, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13326/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2019-09-25T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "Black Hole Accretion Disk Visualization", "description": "This movie shows a complete revolution around a simulated black hole and its accretion disk following a path that is perpendicular to the disk. The black hole’s extreme gravitational field redirects and distorts light coming from different parts of the disk, but exactly what we see depends on our viewing angle. The greatest distortion occurs when viewing the system nearly edgewise. As our viewpoint rotates around the black hole, we see different parts of the fast-moving gas in the accretion disk moving directly toward us. Due to a phenomenon called \"relativistic Doppler beaming,\" gas in the disk that's moving toward us makes that side of the disk appear brighter, the opposite side darker. This effect disappears when we're directly above or below the disk because, from that angle, none of the gas is moving directly toward us.When our viewpoint passes beneath the disk, it looks like the gas is moving in the opposite direction. This is no different that viewing a clock from behind, which would make it look like the hands are moving counter-clockwise.CORRECTION: In earlier versions of the 360-degree movies on this page, these important effects were not apparent. This was due to a minor mistake in orienting the camera relative to the disk. The fact that it was not initially discovered by the NASA scientist who made the movie reflects just how bizarre and counter-intuitive black holes can be! Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman || BH_Accretion_Disk_Sim_360_4k_Prores.00001_print.jpg (1024x1024) [33.2 KB] || BH_Accretion_Disk_Sim_360_4k_Prores.00001_searchweb.png (320x180) [17.0 KB] || BH_Accretion_Disk_Sim_360_4k_Prores.00001_thm.png (80x40) [1.9 KB] || BH_Accretion_Disk_Sim_360_1080.mp4 (1080x1080) [19.0 MB] || BH_Accretion_Disk_Sim_360_1080.webm (1080x1080) [2.8 MB] || 360 (3840x3840) [0 Item(s)] || BH_Accretion_Disk_Sim_360_4k.mp4 (3840x3840) [119.2 MB] || BH_Accretion_Disk_Sim_360_4k_Prores.mov (3840x3840) [1020.1 MB] || ", "hits": 2914 }, { "id": 4637, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4637/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2018-10-10T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "Pulsars and their Magnetic Field - Vacuum solution", "description": "This movie presents a basic tour around the vacuum magnetic field solution. This version is generated with some simple reference objects for more general use. || BasicPulsarDipole_tour_inertial.HD1080i.01001_print.jpg (1024x576) [51.0 KB] || tour-glyph (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || BasicPulsarDipole_tour_glyph.HD1080i_p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [29.3 MB] || BasicPulsarDipole_tour_glyph.HD1080i_p30.webm (1920x1080) [4.3 MB] || tour-glyph (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || BasicPulsarDipole_tour_glyph_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [67.0 MB] || BasicPulsarDipole_tour_glyph.HD1080i_p30.mp4.hwshow [206 bytes] || ", "hits": 136 }, { "id": 4638, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4638/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2018-10-10T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "Pulsar Current Sheets - Magnetic Field Solution", "description": "This movie presents a basic tour around the simulation magnetic field. This version is generated with some simple reference objects for more general use. || PulsarParticles_grid_tour_inertial.HD1080i.01001_print.jpg (1024x576) [49.5 KB] || tour-glyph (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_tour_inertial.HD1080i_p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [22.6 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_tour_inertial.HD1080i_p30.webm (1920x1080) [4.3 MB] || tour-glyph (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_tour_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [66.2 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_tour_inertial.HD1080i_p30.mp4.hwshow [212 bytes] || ", "hits": 71 }, { "id": 4644, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4644/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2018-10-10T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "Pulsar Current Sheets - Bulk Particle Trajectories", "description": "This movie presents a basic tour around the simulation magnetic field including motion of the bulk particles. This version is generated with some simple reference objects for more general use. || PulsarParticles_grid_bulk_tour_inertial.HD1080i.01001_print.jpg (1024x576) [112.0 KB] || tour-glyph (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_bulk_tour.HD1080i_p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [67.7 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_bulk_tour.HD1080i_p30.webm (1920x1080) [5.3 MB] || tour-glyph (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_bulk_tour_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [129.1 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_bulk_tour.HD1080i_p30.mp4.hwshow [208 bytes] || ", "hits": 88 }, { "id": 4645, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4645/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2018-10-10T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "Pulsar Current Sheets - Electron flows", "description": "This movie presents a basic tour around the simulation magnetic field including motion of the high-energy electrons. This version is generated with some simple reference objects for more general use. || PulsarParticles_grid_electrons_tour_inertial.HD1080i.01001_print.jpg (1024x576) [100.3 KB] || tour-glyph (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_electrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [78.4 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_electrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.webm (1920x1080) [5.4 MB] || tour-glyph (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_electrons_tour_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [187.4 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_electrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.mp4.hwshow [213 bytes] || ", "hits": 56 }, { "id": 4646, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4646/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2018-10-10T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "Pulsar Current Sheets - Positron Flows", "description": "This movie presents a basic tour around the simulation magnetic field including motion of the high-energy positrons. This version is generated with some simple reference objects for more general use. || PulsarParticles_grid_positrons_tour_inertial.HD1080i.01001_print.jpg (1024x576) [114.9 KB] || tour-glyph (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_positrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [82.8 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_positrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.webm (1920x1080) [7.9 MB] || tour-glyph (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_positrons_tour_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [198.5 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_positrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.mp4.hwshow [213 bytes] || ", "hits": 168 }, { "id": 4647, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4647/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2018-10-10T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "Pulsar Current Sheets - Electron & Positron Flows", "description": "This movie presents a basic tour around the simulation magnetic field including motion of the high-energy electrons and positrons. This version is generated with some simple reference objects for more general use. || PulsarParticles_grid_positrons_electrons_tour_inertial.HD1080i.01001_print.jpg (1024x576) [142.4 KB] || tour-glyph (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_positrons_electrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.webm (1920x1080) [8.7 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_positrons_electrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [121.5 MB] || tour-glyph (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_positrons_electrons_tour_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [302.5 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_positrons_electrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.mp4.hwshow [223 bytes] || ", "hits": 51 }, { "id": 4648, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4648/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2018-10-10T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "Pulsar Current Sheets - All Particle Flows", "description": "This movie presents a basic tour around the simulation magnetic field including motion of the the bulk particles and high-energy electrons and positrons. This version is generated with some simple reference objects for more general use. || PulsarParticles_grid_bulk_positrons_electrons_tour_inertial.HD1080i.01001_print.jpg (1024x576) [172.3 KB] || tour-glyph (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_bulk_positrons_electrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.webm (1920x1080) [9.4 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_bulk_positrons_electrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [148.0 MB] || tour-glyph (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || PulsarParticles_grid_bulk_positrons_electrons_tour_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [375.4 MB] || PulsarParticles_grid_bulk_positrons_electrons_tour.HD1080i_p30.mp4.hwshow [228 bytes] || ", "hits": 95 }, { "id": 12807, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12807/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2018-01-11T14:10:00-05:00", "title": "Debris Disks Generate Spirals, Rings and Arcs in Simulations", "description": "Astronomers thought patterns spotted in disks around young stars could be planetary signposts. But is there another explanation? A new simulation performed on NASA's Discover supercomputing cluster shows how the dust and gas in the disk could form those patterns no planets needed.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Hyperborea\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || 12807_Disk_Simulation_4k_still_print.jpg (1024x576) [241.9 KB] || 12807_Disk_Simulation_4k_still.jpg (3840x2160) [2.4 MB] || 12807_Disk_Simulation_4k_still_thm.png (80x40) [4.5 KB] || 12807_Disk_Simulation_4k_still_searchweb.png (320x180) [71.2 KB] || 12807_Disk_Simulation_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [1.5 GB] || 12807_Disk_Simulation_H264_1080p.mov (1920x1080) [263.9 MB] || 12807_Disk_Simulation_H264_1080.m4v (1920x1080) [131.7 MB] || 12807_Disk_Simulation_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.webm (1920x1080) [15.3 MB] || 12807_Disk_Simulation_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [2.1 KB] || 12807_Disk_Simulation_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [2.0 KB] || ", "hits": 56 }, { "id": 12587, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12587/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2017-05-02T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "Gigantic Wave Discovered in Perseus Galaxy Cluster", "description": "A wave spanning 200,000 light-years is rolling through the Perseus galaxy cluster, according to observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory coupled with a computer simulation. The simulation shows the gravitational disturbance resulting from the distant flyby of a galaxy cluster about a tenth the mass of the Perseus cluster. The event causes cooler gas at the heart of the Perseus cluster to form a vast expanding spiral, which ultimately forms giant waves lasting hundreds of millions of years at its periphery. Merger events like this are thought to occur as often as every three to four billion years in clusters like Perseus.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"The Undiscovered\" from Killer TracksWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Perseus_Simulation_Final_Frame_print.jpg (1024x575) [47.6 KB] || Perseus_Simulation_Final_Frame.png (7342x4129) [4.0 MB] || Perseus_Simulation_Final_Frame_thm.png (80x40) [3.3 KB] || Perseus_Simulation_Final_Frame_searchweb.png (320x180) [39.3 KB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind_FINAL_VX-281959_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [85.7 MB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind_1080.webm (1920x1080) [18.2 MB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind_FINAL_VX-281959_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [85.6 MB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind_1080.m4v (1920x1080) [160.3 MB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind_1080.mov (1920x1080) [241.7 MB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind_SRT_Caption.en_US.vtt [1.7 KB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind_SRT_Caption.en_US.srt [1.7 KB] || WMV_12587_Perseus_Wind_FINAL_VX-281959_HD.wmv (3840x2160) [154.8 MB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind.mp4 (3840x2160) [306.3 MB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind_Good_4k.mov (3840x2160) [468.4 MB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind_4K.m4v (3840x2160) [792.0 MB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind_FINAL_VX-281959_youtube_hq.mov (3840x2160) [1.2 GB] || 12587_Perseus_Wind_ProRes_3840x2160_2997.mov (3840x2160) [5.2 GB] || ", "hits": 106 }, { "id": 12216, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12216/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2016-04-18T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "NASA's Fermi Preps to Narrow Down Gravitational Wave Sources", "description": "Fermi's GBM saw a fading X-ray flash at nearly the same moment LIGO detected gravitational waves from a black hole merger in 2015. This movie shows how scientists can narrow down the location of the LIGO source on the assumption that the burst is connected to it. In this case, the LIGO search area is reduced by two-thirds. Greater improvements are possible in future detections.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Watch this video on the NASAgovVideo YouTube channel. || LIGO_GBM_Common_only_Earth.png (1920x1080) [4.2 MB] || LIGO_GBM_Common_only_Earth_print.jpg (1024x576) [168.3 KB] || LIGO_GBM_Common_only_Earth_searchweb.png (320x180) [97.0 KB] || LIGO_GBM_Common_only_Earth_web.png (320x180) [97.0 KB] || LIGO_GBM_Common_only_Earth_thm.png (80x40) [6.6 KB] || Fermi_LIGO_GBM_localizations_H264_YouTube_1080p.mp4 (1920x1080) [82.8 MB] || Fermi_LIGO_GBM_localizations_H264_720p.mp4 (1280x720) [35.4 MB] || Fermi_LIGO_GBM_localizations_H264_720p.webm (1280x720) [2.3 MB] || Fermi_LIGO_GBM_localizations_ProRes_1920x1080_30.mov (1920x1080) [431.3 MB] || 12216_Fermi_LIGO_Localization_4K.mov (4096x2304) [90.6 MB] || 12216_Fermi_LIGO_Localization_4K.m4v (3840x2160) [140.3 MB] || 12216_Fermi_LIGO_Localization_ProRes_7282x4096_30.mov (7282x4096) [6.0 GB] || ", "hits": 68 }, { "id": 11896, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11896/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2015-06-25T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Planet Around Beta Pictoris Makes Waves", "description": "Watch: Erika Nesvold and Marc Kuchner discuss how their new supercomputer simulation helps astronomers understand Beta Pictoris.Music:\"Deep Layer\" by Lars Leonhard, courtesy of the artist.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. Video credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterFor complete transcript, click here. || Beta_Pic_Disk_Sim_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [330.2 KB] || Beta_Pic_Disk_Sim_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [96.2 KB] || Beta_Pic_Disk_Sim_Still_thm.png (80x40) [5.3 KB] || 11896_Beta_Pic_Disk_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [3.5 GB] || 11896_Beta_Pic_Disk_H264_Best_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.1 GB] || 11896_Beta_Pic_Disk_H264_Good_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [321.8 MB] || 11896_Beta_Pic_Disk_MPEG4_1920X1080_2997.mp4 (1920x1080) [100.6 MB] || G2015-052_Beta_Pic_Disk_Final_appletv.m4v (960x540) [97.4 MB] || G2015-052_Beta_Pic_Disk_Final_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [109.6 MB] || 11896_Beta_Pic_Disk_H264_Good_1920x1080_2997.webm (1920x1080) [30.4 MB] || G2015-052_Beta_Pic_Disk_Final_appletv_subtitles.m4v (960x540) [97.3 MB] || G2015-052_Beta_Pic_Disk_Final_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [41.5 MB] || 11896_Beta_Pictoris_Disk_SRT_Transcript.en_US.srt [5.5 KB] || 11896_Beta_Pictoris_Disk_SRT_Transcript.en_US.vtt [5.5 KB] || G2015-052_Beta_Pic_Disk_Final_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [20.7 MB] || ", "hits": 54 }, { "id": 4183, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4183/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2015-06-23T14:00:00-04:00", "title": "Capturing Dark Matter with Black Holes", "description": "In this visualization, we plot the trajectories of random-distribution of hypothesized dark matter particles around a maximally-rotating black hole. The particles captured by the hole are seen collecting around the event horizon in the center, the particles experiencing stronger and stronger redshift, respresented by the stronger red coloration of the particle trail.The ergosphere is represented by the bluish oblate spheroid shape around the spherical event horizon. Inside the ergosphere, the distortion of space is so strong that particles must be deflected and carried with the rotation of the black hole. Hence, while the particles are traveling all different directions far from the black hole, we see them carried in the same direction close to the event horizon. || ", "hits": 190 }, { "id": 11725, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11725/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2015-01-07T13:15:00-05:00", "title": "NASA Missions Take an Unparalleled Look into Superstar Eta Carinae", "description": "Explore Eta Carinae from the inside out with the help of supercomputer simulations and data from NASA satellites and ground-based observatories. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920.jpg (1920x1080) [804.4 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920_print.jpg (1024x576) [52.0 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL.jpg (4928x2772) [874.1 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL.png (4928x2772) [36.6 MB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920_web.jpg (320x180) [13.1 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920_searchweb.png (320x180) [55.9 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920_thm.png (80x40) [8.0 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920.tiff (1920x1080) [11.9 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_appletv.webm (960x540) [30.5 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [43.2 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary.en_US.vtt [5.2 KB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary.en_US.srt [5.2 KB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [22.8 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_appletv_subtitles.m4v (960x540) [103.9 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_appletv.m4v (960x540) [104.0 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [107.6 MB] || 11725_Eta_Car_Binary2_MPEG4_1920X1080_2997.mp4 (1920x1080) [116.9 MB] || 11725_Eta_Car_Binary2_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [3.5 GB] || 11725_Eta_Car_Binary2_H264_Best_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.6 GB] || 11725_Eta_Car_Binary2_H264_Good_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [506.2 MB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL.tiff (4928x2772) [104.2 MB] || ", "hits": 194 }, { "id": 11722, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11722/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2015-01-07T13:00:00-05:00", "title": "Supercomputer Simulations of Eta Carinae", "description": "Density simulation. This movie shows a wide view of the system looking down on the orbital plane of the two stars, which are located at the center. The view spans 3,200 times the average distance between Earth and the sun, or 298 billion miles (478 billion kilometers). Lighter colors indicate greater densities, with the highest densities occurring near the primary and in the wind interaction region. The faster wind of the smaller star carves a spiral cavity into the dense wind of the primary star, and this structure expands outward with the primary wind at about 1 million mph (1.6 million km/h. || R100_density_xy_axes_and_colorbar_print.jpg (1024x1024) [84.9 KB] || R100_density_xy_axes_and_colorbar.png (4096x4096) [2.8 MB] || R100_density_xy_axes_and_colorbar_web.jpg (320x320) [17.8 KB] || Eta_Car_R100_Density_XY_H264_Good_1024x1024_searchweb.png (320x180) [57.8 KB] || Eta_Car_R100_Density_XY_H264_Good_1024x1024.mov (1024x1024) [3.8 MB] || Eta_Car_R100_Density_XY_H264_Good_1024x1024.webm (1024x1024) [2.4 MB] || Eta_Car_R100_Density_XY_4k.mov (4096x4096) [876.4 MB] || ", "hits": 99 }, { "id": 10082, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10082/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2014-11-19T10:00:00-05:00", "title": "Swift Probes Exotic Object: 'Kicked' Black Hole or Mega Star?", "description": "Zoom into Markarian 177 and SDSS1133 and see how they compare with a simulated galaxy collision. When the central black holes in these galaxies combine, a \"kick\" launches the merged black hole on a wide orbit taking it far from the galaxy's core. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/L. Blecha (UMD) || Zoom_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [363.8 KB] || Zoom_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [137.1 KB] || Zoom_Still_web.png (320x180) [60.9 KB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_MPEG4_1920x1080_29.97.mp4 (1920x1080) [31.7 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_H264_Good_1920x1080_29.97.mov (1920x1080) [68.2 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_H264_Best_1920x1080_29.97.mov (1920x1080) [278.2 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_MPEG4_1920x1080_29.97.webmhd.webm (960x540) [13.2 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_H264_640x360_29.97_iPhone.m4v (640x360) [10.9 MB] || ", "hits": 141 }, { "id": 11530, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11530/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2014-05-13T10:00:00-04:00", "title": "Neutron Stars Rip Each Other Apart to Form Black Hole", "description": "This supercomputer simulation shows one of the most violent events in the universe: a pair of neutron stars colliding, merging and forming a black hole. A neutron star is the compressed core left behind when a star born with between eight and 30 times the sun's mass explodes as a supernova. Neutron stars pack about 1.5 times the mass of the sun — equivalent to about half a million Earths — into a ball just 12 miles (20 km) across. As the simulation begins, we view an unequally matched pair of neutron stars weighing 1.4 and 1.7 solar masses. They are separated by only about 11 miles, slightly less distance than their own diameters. Redder colors show regions of progressively lower density. As the stars spiral toward each other, intense tides begin to deform them, possibly cracking their crusts. Neutron stars possess incredible density, but their surfaces are comparatively thin, with densities about a million times greater than gold. Their interiors crush matter to a much greater degree densities rise by 100 million times in their centers. To begin to imagine such mind-boggling densities, consider that a cubic centimeter of neutron star matter outweighs Mount Everest. By 7 milliseconds, tidal forces overwhelm and shatter the lesser star. Its superdense contents erupt into the system and curl a spiral arm of incredibly hot material. At 13 milliseconds, the more massive star has accumulated too much mass to support it against gravity and collapses, and a new black hole is born. The black hole's event horizon — its point of no return — is shown by the gray sphere. While most of the matter from both neutron stars will fall into the black hole, some of the less dense, faster moving matter manages to orbit around it, quickly forming a large and rapidly rotating torus. This torus extends for about 124 miles (200 km) and contains the equivalent of 1/5th the mass of our sun. The entire simulation covers only 20 milliseconds.Scientists think neutron star mergers like this produce short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Short GRBs last less than two seconds yet unleash as much energy as all the stars in our galaxy produce over one year. The rapidly fading afterglow of these explosions presents a challenge to astronomers. A key element in understanding GRBs is getting instruments on large ground-based telescopes to capture afterglows as soon as possible after the burst. The rapid notification and accurate positions provided by NASA's Swift mission creates a vibrant synergy with ground-based observatories that has led to dramatically improved understanding of GRBs, especially for short bursts. || ", "hits": 701 }, { "id": 11118, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11118/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2014-01-08T10:00:00-05:00", "title": "Swift Catches X-ray Activity at the Galaxy's Center", "description": "A seven-year campaign to monitor the center of our galaxy with NASA's Swift spacecraft has provided astronomers with a unique bounty, more than doubling the number of bright X-ray flares observed from our galaxy's central black hole and leading to the discovery of a rare type of neutron star.The innermost region of our galaxy lies 26,000 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. At the center of it all lurks Sgr A* (pronounced \"saj a-star\"), a behemoth black hole containing 4 million times the sun's mass.Sgr A* regularly produces bright X-ray flares today, but astronomers know it was much more active in the past. To better understand its long-term behavior, the Swift team began regular observations of the galactic center in February 2006. Every few days, the spacecraft turns toward the inmost galaxy and takes a 17-minute-long \"snapshot\" with its X-Ray Telescope (XRT). Swift's XRT has now detected six bright flares, during which the black hole's X-ray emission brightened by up to 150 times for a couple of hours. These new detections, in addition to four found by other spacecraft, enabled astronomers to estimate that similar flares occur every five to 10 days. The Swift XRT team is on the lookout for the first sign that a small cold gas cloud named G2, which is swinging near Sgr A*, has begun emitting X-rays. This is expected to start sometime in spring 2014. The event will unfold for years and may fuel strong activity from the monster black hole. The monitoring campaign has already yielded one important discovery: SGR J1745-29, an object called a magnetar. This subclass of neutron star has a magnetic field thousands of times stronger than normal; so far, only 26 magnetars are known. A magnetar orbiting Sgr A* may allow scientists to explore important properties of the black hole and test predictions of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. || ", "hits": 101 }, { "id": 11407, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11407/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2013-11-21T14:00:00-05:00", "title": "Briefing Materials: NASA Missions Explore Record-Setting Cosmic Blast", "description": "On Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013, NASA held a media teleconference to discuss new findings related to a brilliant gamma-ray burst detected on April 27. Audio of the teleconference is available for download here.Related feature story: www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-sees-watershed-cosmic-blast-in-unique-detail/.Audio of Sylvia Zhu interview for a Science Podcast. Briefing Speakers Introduction: Paul Hertz, NASA Astrophysics Division Director, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.Charles Dermer, astrophysicist, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C.Thomas Vestrand, astrophysicist, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N.M.Chryssa Kouveliotou, astrophysicist, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. Presenter 1: Charles Dermer || ", "hits": 144 }, { "id": 11302, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11302/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2013-07-12T14:00:00-04:00", "title": "Debris Disks Make Patterns Without Planets", "description": "A study by NASA scientists sounds a cautionary note in interpreting rings and spiral arms as signposts for new planets. Thanks to interactions between gas and dust, a debris disk may, under the right conditions, produce narrow rings on its own, no planets needed.Many young stars known to host planets also possess disks containing dust and icy grains, particles produced by collisions among asteroids and comets also orbiting the star. These debris disks often show sharply defined rings or spiral patterns, features that could signal the presence of orbiting planets. Astronomers study the structures as a way to better understand the physical properties of known planets and possibly uncover new ones. When the mass of gas is roughly equal to the mass of dust, the two interact in a way that leads to clumping in the dust and the formation of patterns. Effectively, the gas shepherds the dust into the kinds of structures astronomers would expect to see if a planet were present.Lyra and Kuchner refer to this as the photoelectric instability and developed a simulation to explore its effects. This animation shows how the process alters the density of dust in a debris disk and rapidly leads to the formation of rings, arcs and oval structures. || ", "hits": 81 }, { "id": 11206, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11206/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2013-06-14T10:00:00-04:00", "title": "NASA-led Study Explains How Black Holes Shine in Hard X-rays", "description": "A new study by astronomers at NASA, Johns Hopkins University and the Rochester Institute of Technology confirms long-held suspicions about how stellar-mass black holes produce their highest-energy light. By analyzing a supercomputer simulation of gas flowing into a black hole, the team finds they can reproduce a range of important X-ray features long observed in active black holes. Jeremy Schnittman, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., led the research.Black holes are the densest objects known. Stellar black holes form when massive stars run out of fuel and collapse, crushing up to 20 times the sun's mass into compact objects less than 75 miles (120 kilometers) wide. Gas falling toward a black hole initially orbits around it and then accumulates into a flattened disk. The gas stored in this disk gradually spirals inward and becomes greatly compressed and heated as it nears the center, ultimately reaching temperatures up to 20 million degrees Fahrenheit (12 million C), or some 2,000 times hotter than the sun's surface. It glows brightly in low-energy, or soft, X-rays.For more than 40 years, however, observations show that black holes also produce considerable amounts of \"hard\" X-rays, light with energy tens to hundreds of times greater than soft X-rays. This higher-energy light implies the presence of correspondingly hotter gas, with temperatures reaching billions of degrees. The new study involves a detailed computer simulation that simultaneously tracked the fluid, electrical and magnetic properties of the gas while also taking into account Einstein's theory of relativity. Using this data, the scientists developed tools to track how X-rays were emitted, absorbed, and scattered in and around the disk. The study demonstrates for the first time a direct connection between magnetic turbulence in the disk, the formation of a billion-degree corona above and below the disk, and the production of hard X-rays around an actively \"feeding\" black hole.Watch this video on YouTube. || ", "hits": 218 }, { "id": 11087, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11087/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-10-19T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "Astronomers Uncover a Surprising Trend in Galaxy Evolution", "description": "A comprehensive study of hundreds of galaxies observed by the Keck telescopes in Hawaii and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revealed an unexpected pattern of change that extends back 8 billion years, or more than half the age of the universe.\"Astronomers thought disk galaxies in the nearby universe had settled into their present form by about 8 billion years ago, with little additional development since,\" said Susan Kassin, an astronomer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the study's lead researcher. \"The trend we've observed instead shows the opposite, that galaxies were steadily changing over this time period.\"Today, star-forming galaxies take the form of orderly disk-shaped systems, such as the Andromeda Galaxy or the Milky Way, where rotation dominates over other internal motions. The most distant blue galaxies in the study tend to be very different, exhibiting disorganized motions in multiple directions. There is a steady shift toward greater organization to the present time as the disorganized motions dissipate and rotation speeds increase. These galaxies are gradually settling into well-behaved disks.Blue galaxies — their color indicates stars are forming within them — show less disorganized motions and ever-faster rotation speeds the closer they are observed to the present. This trend holds true for galaxies of all masses, but the most massive systems always show the highest level of organization.Researchers say the distant blue galaxies they studied are gradually transforming into rotating disk galaxies like our own Milky Way.Watch this video on YouTube. || ", "hits": 101 }, { "id": 11109, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11109/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-10-12T10:00:00-04:00", "title": "X-ray Satellites Monitor the Clashing Winds of a Colossal Binary", "description": "One of the nearest and richest OB associations in our galaxy is Cygnus OB2, which is located about 4,700 light-years away and hosts some 3,000 hot stars, including about 100 in the O class. Weighing in at more than a dozen times the sun's mass and sporting surface temperatures five to ten times hotter, these ginormous blue-white stars blast their surroundings with intense ultraviolet light and powerful outflows called stellar winds. Two of these stars can be found in the intriguing binary system known as Cygnus OB2 #9. In 2011, NASA's Swift satellite, the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory and several ground-based facilities took part in a campaign to monitor the system as the giant stars raced toward their closest approach. The observations are giving astronomers a more detailed picture of the stars, their orbits and the interaction of their stellar winds. An O-type star is so luminous that the pressure of its starlight actually drives material from its surface, creating particle outflows with speeds of several million miles an hour. Put two of these humongous stars in the same system and their winds can collide during all or part of the orbit, creating both radio emission and X-rays.In 2008, research showed that Cygnus OB2 #9 emitted radio signals that varied every 2.355 years. In parallel, Yael Naz || ", "hits": 89 }, { "id": 10740, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10740/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-04-07T09:00:00-04:00", "title": "When Neutron Stars Collide", "description": "Armed with state-of-the-art supercomputer models, scientists have shown that colliding neutron stars can produce the energetic jet required for a gamma-ray burst. Earlier simulations demonstrated that mergers could make black holes. Others had shown that the high-speed particle jets needed to make a gamma-ray burst would continue if placed in the swirling wreckage of a recent merger. Now, the simulations reveal the middle step of the process—how the merging stars' magnetic field organizes itself into outwardly directed components capable of forming a jet. The Damiana supercomputer at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics needed six weeks to reveal the details of a process that unfolds in just 35 thousandths of a second—less than the blink of an eye.For the researchers' website, with more video and stills of their simulations, go here. || ", "hits": 403 }, { "id": 10706, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10706/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-01-10T16:00:00-05:00", "title": "Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes Create Antimatter", "description": "NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected beams of antimatter launched by thunderstorms. Acting like enormous particle accelerators, the storms can emit gamma-ray flashes, called TGFs, and high-energy electrons and positrons. Scientists now think that most TGFs produce particle beams and antimatter.For additional animations showing bremsstrahlung and pair production gamma ray reactions, go here.For more visualizations showing Fermi's TGF detections, go to#3747, #3748, and #3756.For animations of the Fermi spacecraft and matter/antimatter, go to#10707 and #10651. || ", "hits": 304 }, { "id": 10661, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10661/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2010-11-01T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "JWST Science Simulations: Galaxy Formation", "description": "Supercomputer Simulations of Galaxy Formation and Evolution. This visualization shows small galaxies forming, interacting, and merging to make ever-larger galaxies. This 'hierarchical structure formation' is driven by gravity and results in the creation of galaxies with spiral arms much like our own Milky Way galaxy. The Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) simulation generated from ENZO code for cosmology and astrophysics was developed by Drs. Brian O'Shea and Michael Norman. The AMR code generated 1.8 terabytes of data and was computed at NCSA. AVL used Amore software (http://avl.ncsa.illinois.edu/what-we-do/software) to interpolate and render 2700 frames (42 gigabytes of HD images). The simulation spans a time period of 13.7 billion years. This visualization provides insight into the assembly and formation of galaxies. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will probe the earliest periods of galaxy formation by looking deep into space to see the first galaxies that form in the universe, only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. The Advanced Visualization Laboratory (AVL) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) collaborated with NASA and Drs. Brian O'Shea and Michael Norman to visualize the formation of a Milky Way-type galaxy. The Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) simulation generated from ENZO code for cosmology and astrophysics was developed by Drs. Brian O'Shea and Michael Norman. The AMR code generated 1.8 terabytes of data and was computed at NCSA. AVL used Amore software (http://avl.ncsa.illinois.edu/what-we-do/software) to interpolate and render 2700 frames (42 gigabytes of HD images). The simulation spans a time period of 13.7 billion years. This visualization provides insight into the assembly and formation of galaxies. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will probe the earliest periods of galaxy formation by looking deep into space to see the first galaxies that form in the universe, only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.AVL(http://avl.ncsa.illinois.edu/) at NCSA (http://ncsa.illinois.edu/), University of Illinois (www.illinois.edu) || ", "hits": 855 }, { "id": 10663, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10663/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2010-11-01T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Webb Science Simulations: Re-Ionization Era", "description": "The visualization shows galaxies, composed of gas, stars and dark matter, colliding and forming filaments in the large-scale universe providing a view of the Cosmic Web. The Advanced Visualization Laboratory (AVL) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) collaborated with NASA and Drs. Renyue Cen and Jeremiah Ostriker to visualize a simulation of the nonlinear cosmological evolution of the universe. Drs. Cen and Ostriker developed one of the largest cosmological hydrodynamic simulations and computed over 749 gigabytes of raw data at the NCSA in 2005. AVL used Amore software (http://avl.ncsa.illinois.edu/what-we-do/software) to interpolate and render approximately 322 gigabytes of a subset of the computed data. The simulation begins about 20 million years after the Big Bang - about 13.7 billion years ago - and extends until the present day.AVL(http://avl.ncsa.illinois.edu/) at NCSA (http://ncsa.illinois.edu/), University of Illinois (www.illinois.edu) || ", "hits": 475 }, { "id": 10635, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10635/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2010-09-23T09:00:00-04:00", "title": "Dust Simulations Paint Alien's View of the Solar System", "description": "Dust ground off icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt, the cold-storage zone that includes Pluto and millions of other objects, creates a faint infrared disk potentially visible to alien astronomers looking for planets around the sun. Neptune's gravitational imprint on the dust is always detectable in new simulations of how this dust moves through the solar system. By ramping up the collision rate, the simulations show how the distant view of the solar system might have changed over its history. More here. || ", "hits": 83 }, { "id": 10549, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10549/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2010-05-26T10:00:00-04:00", "title": "Swift Survey Finds 'Smoking Gun' of Black Hole Activation", "description": "Astronomers using X-ray data from an ongoing survey by NASA's Swift satellite have solved a decades-long mystery. Why, when most galaxies host giant black holes in their centers, do only about one percent of them emit vast amounts of energy? The new findings confirm that the black holes \"light up\" when galaxies collide — and may offer insight into the future behavior of the black hole in our own galaxy. The intense emission from galaxy centers, or nuclei, arises near a supermassive black hole containing between a million and a billion times the sun's mass. Giving off as much as 10 billion times the sun's energy, some of these active galactic nuclei (AGN) — a class that includes quasars and blazars — are the most luminous objects in the universe. || ", "hits": 41 }, { "id": 10555, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10555/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2010-01-26T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Massive Merger of Galaxies is Most Powerful on Record", "description": "In 2004, an international team of scientists, led by a NASA-funded researcher, observed a nearby head-on collision of two galaxy clusters. The clusters smashed together thousands of galaxies and trillions of stars. It is one of the most powerful events ever witnessed. Such collisions are second only to the Big Bang in total energy output.The event was captured with the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory. Scientists are calling the event the perfect cosmic storm: galaxy clusters that collided like two high-pressure weather fronts and created hurricane-like conditions, tossing galaxies far from their paths and churning shock waves of 100-million-degree gas through intergalactic space. The cluster, Abell 754 in the constellation Hydra, has been known for decades. However, the new observation reveals the merger may have occurred from the opposite direction than was previously thought.This unprecedented view of merger in action crystallizes the theory the universe built its magnificent hierarchal structure from the \"bottom up,\" essentially through mergers of smaller galaxies and galaxy clusters into bigger ones.Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound structures in the universe, containing hundreds to thousands of galaxies. || ", "hits": 191 }, { "id": 10470, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10470/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2009-08-27T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Interstellar \"Wind\" Sculpts Dusty Disks Around Stars", "description": "A new model of oddly shaped debris disks around stars incorporates the drag effect from interstellar gas on the disk's outermost small particles. Far from being empty, the space between stars is filled with patchy clouds of low-density gas. When a star encounters a relatively dense clump of this gas, the resulting flow produces a drag force on orbiting dust particles about one micrometer across, or about the size of particles in smoke. As the dust particles respond to the interstellar wind, a debris disk can morph into peculiar shapes determined by the details of its collision with the gas cloud. In a face-on encounter, such as that of the star HD 61005 in the constellation Puppis, shown here, the disk's edge bends gently away from the direction of motion. Fine dust trails behind, forming a cylindrical wake. || ", "hits": 64 }, { "id": 10374, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10374/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2009-01-28T01:00:00-05:00", "title": "Spitzer Exoplanet Observation of HD 80606b", "description": "HD 80606b is a gas giant planet in an eccentric orbit around its star. Every 111 days, the planet passes within 2.8 million miles of the star's surface. During the close approach of Nov. 20, 2007, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope observed the system for 30 hours. Scientists modeled the response of the planet's upper atmosphere to the extreme heating. The animation based on their simulations begins 4.4 days after closest approach, when the hot hemisphere has rotated into view. A massive storm has formed in response to the pulse of heat delivered during the planet's close swing past its star. Successive frames, spaced every 12 hours, show the hot spot rotating out of view. The Spitzer observations represent the first time astronomers have detected weather changes in real time on a planet outside our solar system. || ", "hits": 220 }, { "id": 10263, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10263/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2008-10-07T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "Resonant Dust Ring Sculpted by a Super-Earth", "description": "A planet twice the mass of Earth shepherds dust near its orbit into a circumstellar ring structure. Both the planet and the dust structure orbit the host star with a period of 5.2 years. Two regions of enhanced dust density lead and trail the planet, which causes periodic localized brightening. This simulation was computed using NASA GSFC's 420-processor Thunderhead cluster. Stark used the cluster to create a catalog of debris-disk structures caused by Earth-like planets. The catalog is available at http://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/Christopher.Stark/catalog.php || ", "hits": 61 }, { "id": 3439, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3439/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2007-09-13T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Simulations of the Gamma-Ray Sky", "description": "The Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) will observe the sky in gamma-rays with energies between 10 million electron volts (MeV) to 300 billion electron volts (GeV) (a photon of visible light is roughly 2 electron volts). At these energies, the detectors will receive roughly 2 photons every second. At these energies, the objects visible will be active galaxies, quasars, pulsars, and gamma-ray bursts. This visualization is generated from one year of simulated photon event-lists using known sources. These event lists are used for testing the various data analysis software being developed for the project. Due to the extremely low event rate, it takes about one week of event accumulation to see structure in the sky. To generate the 600+ frames of this visualization, the event lists were box-car averaged for a duration of one week for each frame, and each frame shifted 50,000 seconds in time from the previous frame. The low angular resolution of gamma-ray detectors makes point sources appear spread out in the sky. In these maps, the color of each pixel represents the number of photons accumulated in that pixel (over an energy range of 10MeV-300GeV). Horizontally, across the center of the map, is the diffuse emission from the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy. The images are projected in galactic coordinates with a plate carrée projection so there is significant distortion with increasing latitude above the galactic disk. This emission in the galactic plane is created by pulsars and supernova remnants. Located away from this plane is emission from active galaxies and high-velocity pulsars. Occasionally, a bright spot appears which can be a gamma-ray burst or quasar in an active state. || ", "hits": 68 }, { "id": 10129, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10129/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2007-07-03T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Dark Ages", "description": "This animation shows in a cube what the early universe was like - very dense until bubbles formed creating pockets that gave birth to the first stars and galaxies. || DarkAges0738.jpg (1280x720) [61.2 KB] || DarkAges0738_web.png (320x180) [92.6 KB] || DarkAges0738_thm.png (80x40) [7.5 KB] || DarkAges_HD_LARGE_QT_Video_2.webmhd.webm (960x540) [4.2 MB] || DarkAges_HD_LARGE_QT_Video_2.mov (1280x720) [75.7 MB] || DarkAges_HD_LARGE_QT_Video_1.mp4 (1280x720) [19.9 MB] || 1280x720_16x9 (1280x720) [128.0 KB] || dark_ages_720p.m2v (1280x720) [5.7 MB] || dark_ages_512x288.m1v (512x288) [8.6 MB] || ", "hits": 89 }, { "id": 39, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/39/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities in Supernovae Explosions: Density", "description": "The following calculation shows the development and evolution of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities which develop behind the supernova blast wave on a time scale of a few hours. The initial model was chosen to provide a good representation for the progenitor star for Supernova 1987A. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics on a two-dimensional spherical grid with rotational symmetry about the vertical axis and equatorial symmetry about the horizontal axis.The grid contained 800 zones in the radial direction and 400 zones in the angular diraction and was allowed to expand homologously with the explosion to maintain as high a resolution as possible in the unstable layer during the evolution. The following sequences show the evolution of the density distribution as well as the distribution of hydrogen, helium, and oxygen within the ejecta to illustrate the amount of mixing caused by the instability. Each sequence shows the evolution in two reference frames.In the first frame, the size of the plot expands with time as the grid expands. For the second reference frame, the size of the plot is kept fixed with the time so that more detail can be seen in the unstable layer. || ", "hits": 85 }, { "id": 40, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/40/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities in Supernovae Explosions: Hydrogen Mass Fraction", "description": "The following calculation shows the development and evolution of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities which develop behind the supernova blast wave on a time scale of a few hours. The initial model was chosen to provide a good representation for the progenitor star for Supernova 1987A. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics on a two-dimensional spherical grid with rotational symmetry about the vertical axis and equatorial symmetry about the horizontal axis.The grid contained 800 zones in the radial direction and 400 zones in the angular diraction and was allowed to expand homologously with the explosion to maintain as high a resolution as possible in the unstable layer during the evolution. The following sequences show the evolution of the density distribution as well as the distribution of hydrogen, helium, and oxygen within the ejecta to illustrate the amount of mixing caused by the instability. Each sequence shows the evolution in two reference frames.In the first frame, the size of the plot expands with time as the grid expands. For the second reference frame, the size of the plot is kept fixed with the time so that more detail can be seen in the unstable layer. || ", "hits": 88 }, { "id": 41, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/41/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities in Supernovae Explosions: Partial Density of Hydrogen", "description": "The following calculation shows the development and evolution of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities which develop behind the supernova blast wave on a time scale of a few hours. The initial model was chosen to provide a good representation for the progenitor star for Supernova 1987A. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics on a two-dimensional spherical grid with rotational symmetry about the vertical axis and equatorial symmetry about the horizontal axis.The grid contained 800 zones in the radial direction and 400 zones in the angular diraction and was allowed to expand homologously with the explosion to maintain as high a resolution as possible in the unstable layer during the evolution. The following sequences show the evolution of the density distribution as well as the distribution of hydrogen, helium, and oxygen within the ejecta to illustrate the amount of mixing caused by the instability. Each sequence shows the evolution in two reference frames.In the first frame, the size of the plot expands with time as the grid expands. For the second reference frame, the size of the plot is kept fixed with the time so that more detail can be seen in the unstable layer. || ", "hits": 46 }, { "id": 42, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/42/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities in Supernovae Explosions: Helium Mass Fraction", "description": "The following calculation shows the development and evolution of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities which develop behind the supernova blast wave on a time scale of a few hours. The initial model was chosen to provide a good representation for the progenitor star for Supernova 1987A. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics on a two-dimensional spherical grid with rotational symmetry about the vertical axis and equatorial symmetry about the horizontal axis.The grid contained 800 zones in the radial direction and 400 zones in the angular diraction and was allowed to expand homologously with the explosion to maintain as high a resolution as possible in the unstable layer during the evolution. The following sequences show the evolution of the density distribution as well as the distribution of hydrogen, helium, and oxygen within the ejecta to illustrate the amount of mixing caused by the instability. Each sequence shows the evolution in two reference frames.In the first frame, the size of the plot expands with time as the grid expands. For the second reference frame, the size of the plot is kept fixed with the time so that more detail can be seen in the unstable layer. || ", "hits": 54 }, { "id": 43, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/43/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities in Supernovae Explosions: Partial Density of Helium", "description": "The following calculation shows the development and evolution of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities which develop behind the supernova blast wave on a time scale of a few hours. The initial model was chosen to provide a good representation for the progenitor star for Supernova 1987A. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics on a two-dimensional spherical grid with rotational symmetry about the vertical axis and equatorial symmetry about the horizontal axis.The grid contained 800 zones in the radial direction and 400 zones in the angular diraction and was allowed to expand homologously with the explosionto maintain as high a resolution as possible in the unstable layer during the evolution. The following sequences show the evolution of the density distribution as well as the distribution of hydrogen, helium, and oxygen within the ejecta to illustrate the amount of mixing caused by the instability. Each sequence shows the evolution in two reference frames.In the first frame, the size of the plot expands with time as the grid expands. For the second reference frame, the size of the plot is kept fixed with the time so that more detail can be seen in the unstable layer. || ", "hits": 42 }, { "id": 44, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/44/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities in Supernovae Explosions: Oxygen Mass Fraction", "description": "The following calculation shows the development and evolution of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities which develop behind the supernova blast wave on a time scale of a few hours. The initial model was chosen to provide a good representation for the progenitor star for Supernova 1987A. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics on a two-dimensional spherical grid with rotational symmetry about the vertical axis and equatorial symmetry about the horizontal axis.The grid contained 800 zones in the radial direction and 400 zones in the angular diraction and was allowed to expand homologously with the explosion to maintain as high a resolution as possible in the unstable layer during the evolution. The following sequences show the evolution of the density distribution as well as the distribution of hydrogen, helium, and oxygen within the ejecta to illustrate the amount of mixing caused by the instability. Each sequence shows the evolution in two reference frames.In the first frame, the size of the plot expands with time as the grid expands. For the second reference frame, the size of the plot is kept fixed with the time so that more detail can be seen in the unstable layer. || ", "hits": 13 }, { "id": 45, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/45/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities in Supernovae Explosions: Partial Density of Oxygen", "description": "The following calculation shows the development and evolution of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities which develop behind the supernova blast wave on a time scale of a few hours. The initial model was chosen to provide a good representation for the progenitor star for Supernova 1987A. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics on a two-dimensional spherical grid with rotational symmetry about the vertical axis and equatorial symmetry about the horizontal axis.The grid contained 800 zones in the radial direction and 400 zones in the angular diraction and was allowed to expand homologously with the explosion to maintain as high a resolution as possible in the unstable layer during the evolution. The following sequences show the evolution of the density distribution as well as the distribution of hydrogen, helium, and oxygen within the ejecta to illustrate the amount of mixing caused by the instability. Each sequence shows the evolution in two reference frames.In the first frame, the size of the plot expands with time as the grid expands. For the second reference frame, the size of the plot is kept fixed with the time so that more detail can be seen in the unstable layer. || ", "hits": 36 }, { "id": 46, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/46/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Instabilities in Very Young Neutron Stars: Density", "description": "This simulation shows the first 20 milliseconds in the life of a neutron star which is formed in a Type II supernova. After an initial collapse phase, the neutron star becomes unstable to convection. The resulting convective motions destroy the spherical symmetry of the star and rapidly mix the inner regions. In addition, the neutrino flux from the neutron star will be non-spherical and will be significantly enhanced by the convective motions. This may have major implications for the Type II supernova mechanism. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics. The computational grid contained 300 zones in radius and 200 zones in angle. The inner 200 zones in radius were uniformly spaced, ranging from the inner boundary at 25 km to 175 km. The outer 100 zones were non-uniformly spaced and stretched to 2000 km. Only the inner 200 zones are plotted. The inner boundary was treated as a hard sphere. At the outer boundary, zero gradients for all the variables were assumed. Periodic boundary conditions were used along the sides of the grid. The following sequence shows the density evolution for 20 milliseconds after the shock stalls. The density is plotted on a log scale. Values range from 10^9 gm/cm^3 at the outer boundary to 1.4 x 10^12 gm/cm^3 at the inner boundary. || ", "hits": 43 }, { "id": 47, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/47/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Instabilities in Very Young Neutron Stars: Temperature", "description": "This simulation shows the first 20 milliseconds in the life of a neutron star which is formed in a Type II supernova. After an initial collapse phase, the neutron star becomes unstable to convection. The resulting convective motions destroy the spherical symmetry of the star and rapidly mix the inner regions. In addition, the neutrino flux from the neutron star will be non-spherical and will be significantly enhanced by the convective motions. This may have major implications for the Type II supernova mechanism. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics. The computational grid contained 300 zones in radius and 200 zones in angle. The inner 200 zones in radius were uniformly spaced, ranging from the inner boundary at 25 km to 175 km. The outer 100 zones were non-uniformly spaced and stretched to 2000 km. Only the inner 200 zones are plotted. The inner boundary was treated as a hard sphere. At the outer boundary, zero gradients for all the variables were assumed. Periodic boundary conditions were used along the sides of the grid. The following sequence shows the temperature structure for 20 milliseconds after the shock stalls. The minimum temperature is approximately 1.35 MeV. The maximum temperature varies from 6 MeV at the beginning of the calculation to 10 MeV at the later times. || ", "hits": 49 }, { "id": 48, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/48/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Instabilities in Very Young Neutron Stars: Electron Fraction", "description": "This simulation shows the first 20 milliseconds in the life of a neutron star which is formed in a Type II supernova. After an initial collapse phase, the neutron star becomes unstable to convection. The resulting convective motions destroy the spherical symmetry of the star and rapidly mix the inner regions. In addition, the neutrino flux from the neutron star will be non-spherical and will be significantly enhanced by the convective motions. This may have major implications for the Type II supernova mechanism. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics. The computational grid contained 300 zones in radius and 200 zones in angle. The inner 200 zones in radius were uniformly spaced, ranging from the inner boundary at 25 km to 175 km. The outer 100 zones were non-uniformly spaced and stretched to 2000 km. Only the inner 200 zones are plotted. The inner boundary was treated as a hard sphere. At the outer boundary, zero gradients for all the variables were assumed. Periodic boundary conditions were used along the sides of the grid. The following sequence shows the mixing of composition which results from the convective motions. The variable plotted is the electron fraction Ye, which ranges from 0.2 to 0.5. || ", "hits": 46 }, { "id": 1381, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/1381/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Instabilities in Very Young Neutron Stars: Density", "description": "This simulation shows the first 20 milliseconds in the life of a neutron star which is formed in a Type II supernova. After an initial collapse phase, the neutron star becomes unstable to convection. The resulting convective motions destroy the spherical symmetry of the star and rapidly mix the inner regions. In addition, the neutrino flux from the neutron star will be non-spherical and will be significantly enhanced by the convective motions. This may have major implications for the Type II supernova mechanism. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics. The computational grid contained 300 zones in radius and 200 zones in angle. The inner 200 zones in radius were uniformly spaced, ranging from the inner boundary at 25 km to 175 km. The outer 100 zones were non-uniformly spaced and stretched to 2000 km. Only the inner 200 zones are plotted. The inner boundary was treated as a hard sphere. At the outer boundary, zero gradients for all the variables were assumed. Periodic boundary conditions were used along the sides of the grid. The following sequence shows the density evolution for 20 milliseconds after the shock stalls. The density is plotted on a log scale. Values range from 10^9 gm/cm^3 at the outer boundary to 1.4 x 10^12 gm/cm^3 at the inner boundary. || ", "hits": 19 }, { "id": 1382, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/1382/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Instabilities in Very Young Neutron Stars: Temperature", "description": "This simulation shows the first 20 milliseconds in the life of a neutron star which is formed in a Type II supernova. After an initial collapse phase, the neutron star becomes unstable to convection. The resulting convective motions destroy the spherical symmetry of the star and rapidly mix the inner regions. In addition, the neutrino flux from the neutron star will be non-spherical and will be significantly enhanced by the convective motions. This may have major implications for the Type II supernova mechanism. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics. The computational grid contained 300 zones in radius and 200 zones in angle. The inner 200 zones in radius were uniformly spaced, ranging from the inner boundary at 25 km to 175 km. The outer 100 zones were non-uniformly spaced and stretched to 2000 km. Only the inner 200 zones are plotted. The inner boundary was treated as a hard sphere. At the outer boundary, zero gradients for all the variables were assumed. Periodic boundary conditions were used along the sides of the grid. The following sequence shows the temperature structure for 20 milliseconds after the shock stalls. The minimum temperature is approximately 1.35 MeV. The maximum temperature varies from 6 MeV at the beginning of the calculation to 10 MeV at the later times. || ", "hits": 18 }, { "id": 1383, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/1383/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "1994-02-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Instabilities in Very Young Neutron Stars: Electron Fraction", "description": "This simulation shows the first 20 milliseconds in the life of a neutron star which is formed in a Type II supernova. After an initial collapse phase, the neutron star becomes unstable to convection. The resulting convective motions destroy the spherical symmetry of the star and rapidly mix the inner regions. In addition, the neutrino flux from the neutron star will be non-spherical and will be significantly enhanced by the convective motions. This may have major implications for the Type II supernova mechanism. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics. The computational grid contained 300 zones in radius and 200 zones in angle. The inner 200 zones in radius were uniformly spaced, ranging from the inner boundary at 25 km to 175 km. The outer 100 zones were non-uniformly spaced and stretched to 2000 km. Only the inner 200 zones are plotted. The inner boundary was treated as a hard sphere. At the outer boundary, zero gradients for all the variables were assumed. Periodic boundary conditions were used along the sides of the grid. The following sequence shows the mixing of composition which results from the convective motions. The variable plotted is the electron fraction Ye, which ranges from 0.2 to 0.5. || ", "hits": 12 } ] }