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Theoretical simulations

As with all forms of science, to fully understand what is happening and why it’s happening you need to develop theories and test them against what you see. In astronomy this is done by comparing observation to computers generated models of stars, galaxies, galaxy clusters, and larger regions of the universe.

In universities and observatories around the world there are groups of dedicated theoretical astronomers running simulations, in order to compare them to observations. These simulations are put together by writing very complicated computer programs based on the real physical interactions we see everyday and expect to be involved in the astronomical universe. The simulations are often run on supercomputers, taking days, weeks and even months to run, and then analysed and compared to observations.

The analysis of a theoretical simulation is often very similar to that of an observation, as observations are now taken with CCD cameras, to give a digitized image.

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