A tool for visualizing how stars evolve based on advanced simulations
Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Dubner (IAFE, CONICET-University of Buenos Aires) et al.; A. Loll et al.; T. Temim et al.; F. Seward et al.; VLA/NRAO/AUI/NSF; Chandra/CXC; Spitzer/JPL-Caltech; XMM-Newton/ESA; and Hubble/STScI
TULIPS helps visualize the physics of how stars evolve over time in an intuitive manner. Instead of complex diagrams, stars and their interior properties are represented as circles that change in size and color over time.
You can find the TULIPS code at this link and documentation and tutorials here.
Example TULIPS Videos
Example TULIPS movie showing how a 10 solar mass star changes in size and in apparent color (as perceived by the human eye) over the course of its life. In the lower left corner, you can see a classical Hertzsprung-Russell diagram Example TULIPS movie showing how a 10 solar mass star loses and generate energy over the course of its life. The radius of the circle is proportional to the mass of the star. Redder colors indicate a very high energy generation (for example through nuclear fusion) and more purple colors indicate heavy energy losses (for example through neutrino emission). In the lower left corner, you can see a classical Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.
For more information, have a look at a one-hour presentation I gave about TULIPS at a lunch seminar of the Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam:
History
I have been developing TULIPS since 2018 and it was published in 2021. With the outreach award of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities sponsored by the de Zeeuw-van Disshoeck fund (press releases: original in Dutch or English translation) the project could be developed further, and documentation and tutorials could be included.
