Name:AstroDyn
Description:Astro Dynamics
Abstract:We have developed a new and improved model of the dynamical evolution of comets during the first Gyr of the Solar System life. The project is a collaboration among Slovak, Polish and Italian researchers. Computations are performed by using the facilities of ``Cometa’’ Virtual Organization (VO) for the Italian part of the GRID, and ``VOCE’’, a central Europe VO which belongs to the ``The EGEE Computing Grid Project’’. The model consists of 10,038 test particles which represent the initial distribution of comets in the proto-planetary disc. The dynamical evolution of the particles/comets is followed taking into account the perturbations by four giant planets, Galactic tide, and stars having a close approach with the Sun. The final product is the formation of a comet cloud in the outer region of the Solar System known as the Oort Cloud. We are also in the process of evaluating the possible use of the accretion data due to comets on Earth for application in Astrobiology.
The code is also the first in the field designed for grid computing.
In the first place we have computed the encounter probability with passing stars, that implied the use of job storms, one for each trajectory, for a total amount estimated in 400000 jobs. The initial data for the first part of the model computations were real nearby star positions and motion information. The resultant complex output data were analyzed by means of procedures written with the help of the Cometa staff.
The main simulation set was realized computing the orbits of more than 10000 test particles (comets) present in the first place in the proto-planetary disk. We estimate that we have performed something like 40 years of 2.8 GHz CPU equivalent time.
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Created:2010-05-01
Last updated:2010-05-01