Cosmic Extremes: A NASA supercomputer [right] took several days to create this simulation of two black holes colliding [left]. Like ripples on a pond, gravitational waves radiate through space and time—a four-dimensional concept Einstein called “space time.”

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Enormous supernova explosions, gamma-ray bursts from distant galaxies, the violent birth of stars, and the incredible consequences of collisions between galaxies or black holes: These are some of the most extreme and mysterious events in the universe, yet our largest telescopes and satellites glimpse only their dim afterglow.

That’s why astronomers use the world’s largest supercomputers to transform theories and formulas into animated 3-D simulations of explosions, collapses and collisions. The computer simulations help astronomers verify their theories—and they provide us with this gallery of phenomonal images.

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