[AstroNet] What's up at the Observatory next Saturday

[Thembela Mantungwa]

Hi there,

S.A. Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town will have a public talk on Saturday, May 14 at 20h00. A PhD student from the University of Western Cape, Daniel Cunnama will talk about "Simulating the universe".

Here's the abstract of his talk:
Computer simulations play an increasingly crucial role in our understanding of the formation of galaxies and the large scale structure of the universe. Simulations of dark matter and gas particles are run in order to gain a better understanding of how these particles collapse under the influence of gravity to form the galactic structures we observe today. In addition to large scale structure, these simulations can be used to investigate colliding and merging galaxies in order to investigate star formation and galactic dynamics.


Daniel Cunnama is a PhD Student at the University of Western Cape. He is working on large scale cosmological simulations which are run at the Centre for High Performance Computing in Rosebank, Cape Town. His PhD project is about looking in particular at neutral hydrogen in galaxies and intergalactic space the issues involved in observing it.

Public talks are free. Visitors are advised to arrive at least at 19h30, this will give them enough time to park and find the auditorium.


-- 
Regards

Thembela Mantungwa
S.A. Astronomical Observatory
Tel: 021 460 9319
Fax: 086 612 7502
Mob: 071 105 0109
Email: tm at saao.ac.za
Website: www.saao.ac.za / www.salt.ac.za