Modeling Fast-Moving Objects as They Travel through Crowded Astronomical Neighborhoods

For my Supercomputing Project, I will model the movements of interstellar objects as they travel through space. The first object I will analyze is known as ‘Oumuamua. This object is speculated to be a large chunk of metal and rock that came to our Solar system by chance from the distant star Vega.[1]  I will use the Python library Numpy to apply Newtonian Mechanics to model the movements of ‘Oumuamua and the solar system. The second object I propose to model is called CWISE J1249+3621. CWISE J1249+3621 is a brown dwarf, moving through the Milky Way Galaxy at high speeds, independent of any stable star system.[2,3] As this star is moving through our galaxy, rather than just one star system, I will need to model more objects; therefore, I will model it with SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics). To run SPH, I will be using Gadget 2, a code that uses a hierarchical tree algorithm to model cosmological simulations.[4] To begin my modeling research, I will research what data has been collected (most of my data will be retrieved from the NASA JPL Horizons Database),[5] what calculations have been done, and (most significantly) what specific questions are being asked concerning my chosen objects.

1. https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/oumuamua/

2. https://science.nasa.gov/get-involved/citizen-science/nasa-citizen-scientists-spot-object-moving-1-million-miles-per-hour/

3. “Discovery of a Hypervelocity L Subdwarf at the Star/Brown Dwarf Mass Limit”, Adam J. Burgasser et al., arXiv: 2407.08578.

4. https://wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de/gadget/

5. https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/