Join STEM Ambassador Stephen, a Professor of Astronomy and Public Understanding of Science at the University of Sussex.

To celebrate World Space Week Stephen joins us for a live talk where he will tell us about how - and why - astronomers attempt to simulate entire Universes on a computer.

Telescopes, like the James Webb Space Telescope, provide observations of galaxies stretching across the history of our Universe. However, these observations alone don’t allow us to fully understand how our Universe works - they need to be combined with a theoretical model. In the context of galaxy formation this is provided by cosmological simulations; these take our understanding of the relevant physics, including gravity and star formation, and follow the evolution of entire universes. The predictions of these simulations can then be compared with observations allowing us to test, and if necessary, refine the model.

There will be an opportunity to ask questions to Stephen at the end of the talk.

BOOKING FORM