One of the long-standing problems in astronomy is that you cannot hold the Sun. You can’t jump into it or examine it under a microscope. Nor can astronomers go back in time to witness the Big Bang or even step outside our own galaxy. Observations alone can only take the science of the stars so far.
Instead, today’s biggest astrophysical questions are answered through simulations carried out on supercomputers. That’s why the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) just introduced ATERUI II, the world’s most powerful supercomputer dedicated solely to astronomy.
