Astrophysicists release cosmological simulation dataset for global researchers
Updated
Updated · Universe Today · Apr 30
Astrophysicists release cosmological simulation dataset for global researchers
8 articles · Updated · Universe Today · Apr 30
Led by Leiden University, the team published more than 2.5 petabytes of FLAMINGO data, generated on Britain’s COSMA8 supercomputer using SWIFT code.
The simulations span billions of light years, letting scientists study galaxy clusters, the cosmic web, and how dark matter and dark energy shape the Universe.
Introduced in 2023 and already used in dozens of studies, the public archive and selective-download platform aim to speed research beyond what most groups could compute alone.
Is this data trove so vast that the next cosmic discovery will be made by an AI instead of an astronomer?
As JWST maps the universe's invisible structure, can this massive simulation finally reveal what dark matter is?
Can new virtual universes explain why our cosmos is expanding faster than our best theories predict?
FLAMINGO: Unveiling the Largest 2.5 Petabyte Hydrodynamical Cosmological Simulations with Open Web Access
Overview
In late 2025, physicists from Durham and Leiden Universities publicly released the FLAMINGO dataset, a groundbreaking cosmological simulation exceeding 2.5 petabytes. Generated on Durham's COSMA-8 supercomputer using advanced SWIFT code and machine learning, FLAMINGO models billions of light-years with detailed baryonic physics and explicit neutrino particles. To overcome the dataset's massive size, the team developed a web-based selective-download system and Python tools, democratizing access for researchers and educators worldwide. Calibrated against real observations, FLAMINGO bridges gaps between theory and data, enabling studies of galaxy clusters, neutrino effects, and early universe structures, while supporting major observatories like Euclid, JWST, and LSST. Ongoing expansions promise even greater insights and open science collaboration.