Astronomers Explore Different Physics on Simulated Clones of the Milky Way

Astronomers Explore Different Physics on Simulated Clones of the Milky Way

How do you search for a substance that doesn't give off any kind of light, but its gravitational influence shapes galaxies? That's the challenge researchers face as they try to find and explain the mysterious substance called dark matter. They're wrestling with an invisible "something" that appears to make up much of all matter in the Universe.

Monster of the Milky Way

Does a supermassive black hole lurk at the center of our galaxy?

Milky Way’s central black hole spins at nearly light speed, study finds

A new generation of black hole research is unfolding thanks to artificial intelligence, massive simulations, and cutting-edge computing. Scientists have used a powerful neural network trained with millions of synthetic images to uncover surprising new insights into Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. This work, led by an international team of astronomers and supported by computing resources at the University of Wisconsi…