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Transcript
H i g h l i g h t s S c i e n c e T e r a G r i d TG 30 TeraGrid resources are called on to create vertigo-inducing planetarium “Journey” Stars Take Center Stage in New York City This visualization shows the generation of magnetic field in the solar convection zone and its connection to a sunspot at the visible surface of the sun. Note that the sunspot (with a size slightly larger than earth) is enlarged for better visibility and not in proper scale relative to the sun. Image courtesy of American Museum of Natural History Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, the 25-minute show takes viewers on an intergalactic tour of pulsing star nurseries, dying red giants, and even the churning interior of our own sun. "Journey to the Stars" projects cutting-edge images and computer visualizations onto the 87-foot, seven-millionpixel dome of the museum's planetarium. The space show explains how dark matter's gravity gathered the primordial gas in the universe to form the first stars, and how these massive stars exploded, seeding the galaxy with new stars and the chemical elements that made life possible. The centerpiece, and the most difficult sequence to depict scientifically, is a flight into the center of the sun. There, convective plasma roils, nuclear explosions rock the sun's core, and undulating magnetic waves spiral from the sun to the distant reaches of space. These sequences are based on the research of Juri Toomre, professor of astrophysics at The University of Colorado at Boulder, and Matthias Rempel, a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Toomre has been studying solar dynamism for more than a decade. A self-proclaimed “deep miner” of the sun, his focus has been the sun's internal, unseen structures rather than its outer regions. “It's not enough to know what comes out of the surface,” Toomre says. “We would like to understand how the magnetic engine of a star works, how it churns away and how it builds orderly fields. This is one of the top ten questions in physics.” Toomre sets his sights beyond the reach of any telescope to parts of the sun that can only be observed indirectly. And computer simulations are the most useful tools for his invesJuri Toomre and Benjamin Brown, University of Colorado tigations. “Simulations are our eyes for thinking,” he says. “They provide insights and give us hints about the dynamics in the sun.” Working with doctoral researcher Ben Brown, Toomre's research on the Ranger supercomputer, based at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), led to the unexpected discovery of “Christmas-like wreaths” of magnetism occupying a large portion of the inside of the sun. Because they're within the middle 50 percent of the sun— the convection zone—you can't see these phenomena directly. However, you can detect them in the eruption of magnetic fields to the surface, according to Toomre. The visuals of the sun were produced from solar data and numerical simulations using supercomputing resources and specialized visualization software. Brown used the Visualization and Analysis Platform for Ocean, Atmosphere, and Solar Researchers (VAPOR), a tool developed by NCAR in collaboration with the University of California, Davis and the Ohio State University. The sequences include simulated “flybys” through the interior of the sun, revealing the dynamos and convection that churn at and beneath the surface. “It may force us to reconsider some of our ideas about how the solar interior operates,” Toomre says. NSF grants: 03-25934, 09-06379.6. More Information: http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2009/teragrid.jsp Sunspots Spotlighted in Star “Journey” Matthias Rempel , a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, provided visualizations of sunspots for the “Journey to the Stars,” after developing some of the most comprehensive numerical models of sunspots ever created. Sunspots encompass intense magnetic activity that is associated with solar flares and massive ejections of plasma that can buffet Earth's atmosphere. The resulting damage to power grids, satellites, and other sensitive technological systems takes an economic toll on a rising number of industries. "If you do astrophysics, it's a little detached from what people do in their normal lives, so it's always a challenge to explain what you're doing and why,” says Rempel. “Having an opportunity to show really interesting science through a planetarium show like this helps to give this message back to the public." The Hayden space show capitalizes on these images. “We knew that we wanted to treat the sun in a terrific and powerful way to reveal not just the surface but to take our audience into the sun, through the convective layer to the core,” says Ro Kinzler, the film's producer. “The results are beautiful. No one has seen the sun in this way and the resources from TACC and NCAR made it possible.” Snapshot of convection patterns in a solar simulation with broad upflows in light tones and fast narrow downflows in dark tones. The polar regions near the top of the image have cyclonic swirling convection while the equatorial regions have broader patterns. Stars Take Center Stage in New York City T e r a G r i d 2 0 0 9 E ver since humans first looked toward the heavens, those glittering bits known as stars have shaken and stirred their inner feelings and conscious thoughts. This summer, stars took center stage in a vertigo-producing video at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium in New York City, thanks to resources and expertise from the TeraGrid. TG 31