HELICOPTER THINKING

An algorithm used by helicopter designers to predict the flow of air around rotor blades has been adapted to help astronomers envision the turbulent movement of material around planets and galaxies.

“Space is full of gas, dust, fluids and turbulence,” says Darryl Seigman from Yale University, who led the study. “We wanted to do a better job of accounting for the swirling of all this material. We were stunned by the level of detail we were able to achieve.”