Movies

Here are some sample movies from numerical simulations carried out in our group. Some simulations were performed on the SHARCNET cluster at UWO. You can view each movie in full screen by clicking on it.

Evolution of a Protostellar Disk and Episodic Accretion Bursts

Vorobyov & Basu (2005, ApJ Letters, 633, L137). A self-consistent model of disk formation and evolution due to the collapse of a molecular cloud core. We have discovered the phenomenon of episodic accretion bursts during the early stages of star formation.

still shot of movie disk

This movie shows a numerical simulation of the evolution of a protostellar disk. The color table represents the gas density in the disk. This work generated a Press Conference at the 207th American Astronomical Society meeting in January 2006.

Impact of a High Velocity Cloud with the Galactic Disk
- Density and Column Density

Kudoh & Basu (2004, A&A, 423, 183)

still image of movie still image of movie

These movies show the density (left) and the integrated column density (right) for a numerical simulation of an axisymmetric collision of an initially spherical cloud with the stratified Galactic disk.

Note the distinct mushroom shaped structure which develops after the collision. It resembles the mushroom cloud observed by the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey (English et al. 2000, ApJ, 533, L25). An image of the observed cloud is below, upside down because it is actually below the Galactic plane.