Tuesday, January 16, 7:00-7:45 PM at the Rivercenter IMAX Theater
Organizer: Frank Summers, Princeton University (summers@astro.princeton.edu,
609-258-3810)
---> now at Columbia University (summers@astro.columbia.edu, 212-854-8081)
This session will present the astronomy behind a four minute sequence of scientific visualization in the IMAX film Cosmic Voyage. Considerable effort has been expended by both the producers of this film and the scientists involved to create a visualization of structure formation in the universe that is both visually stunning and based on accurate science. Researchers from the Grand Challenge Cosmology Consortium (GC3), Mike Norman, Greg Bryan, Frank Summers, and Chris Mihos will present the leading edge science, the technical feats of supercomputing, and the breakthrough visualization methods used to produce images for the film. A preview of the scientific visualization sequence from Cosmic Voyage will be shown on the IMAX screen.
The IMAX film Cosmic Voyage will premiere at the National Air and Space Museum during summer 1996. This film updates and extends the ideas in the classic science film Powers of Ten. In addition to traversing the largest to the smallest realms of the known universe, Cosmic Voyage includes a sequence on the time evolution of the universe, impressive microphotography and satellite images, as well as contextual material on the development of our understanding of the cosmos. Above all, the 40 minute film is presented in the sensory immersion of an IMAX theatre (up to 80 foot tall screens, multi-channel sound).
Astronomers from the GC3 are providing the scientific basis for a four minute sequence in Cosmic Voyage that depicts the formation of structure in the universe. Beginning shortly after the Big Bang, the sequence follows the expansion of the universe, the gravitational collapse of structure, the formation of galaxies, and the collision of of two spiral galaxies. This sequence is the major section of the film that is direct scientific visualization: based on data from scientific simulations rather than artist's conceptions. To meet the intense requirements of the IMAX format, these simulations break new ground in scientific computations and utilize original and dazzling visualization techniques from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and Pixar.