An international team led by Leiden University has launched FLAMINGO, one of the largest cosmic simulations ever created. With over 2.5 petabytes of data, the project tracks the evolution of matter from the Big Bang to the current cosmic web. A digital archive the size of half a million HD movies that astrophysicists can already freely consult.
How to handle 2.5 petabytes of cosmic history 🚀
The simulation uses advanced algorithms to model interactions between dark matter, gas, and black holes over 13.8 billion years. The data is distributed on publicly accessible servers, allowing researchers anywhere to analyze the formation of galaxies and clusters. The volume of information is so massive that specific compression techniques and high-performance storage systems are needed to prevent crashes.
My PC asking for early retirement when it sees the size 😅
While astrophysicists celebrate having this treasure trove of data, the rest of us look at our 1 TB hard drive and feel a pang of sadness. If you tried to download FLAMINGO with your 300 Mbps fiber optic connection, it would take about 800 days non-stop. Of course, you'd have plenty of time to think about how to explain to your router that it's not its fault.