Weekend Feature: NASA's Simulation of the Early Universe (Video)

By running the "Bolshoi" simulation code on Pleiades, researchers hope to explain how galaxies and other very large structures in the universe have changed since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. The Bolshoi code took 18 days and millions of hours of computer time split up among more than 160,000 processors to finish running on Pleiades, which is the seventh most powerful supercomputer in the world. The Bolshoi supercomputer simulation, the most accurate and detailed large cosmological simulation run to date, gives physicists and astronomers a powerful new tool for understanding such cosmic mysteries as galaxy formation, dark matter, and dark energy.   link