Monthly Archives: April 2019

Black holes in virtual reality

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Black holes are some of the most extreme objects in the universe. They can be more massive than a billion suns. Matter in their surrounding gets trapped and accelerated to almost the speed of light, where it ends up behind the point-of-no-return: the event horizon. In Computational Astrophysics and Cosmology, Jordy Davelaar and team explore the theory behind these beasts by computing the plasma flows and radiation around them to understand how we observe them with telescopes, with the help of virtual reality.

How did Hokusai intend to depict Mount Fuji? Determining the sequence of impressions of the ‘Red Fuji’ Japanese woodblock print

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Japanese woodblock prints, albeit not considered ‘proper’ art, were very popular during the Edo Period. Designs often evolved over time and were printed in different colour schemes. Due to the plethora of individual prints, it is very difficult to find out which one was the ‘original’ colour scheme as envisioned by the artist. Dr Capucine Korenberg has developed a method to do just that and presents her findings on the famous ‘red Fuji’ print.