What is MilkyWay@home?

Milkyway@Home uses the BOINC platform to harness volunteered computing resources, creating a highly accurate three dimensional model of the Milky Way galaxy using data gathered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This project enables research in both astroinformatics and computer science.

In computer science, the project is investigating different optimization methods which are resilient to the fault-prone, heterogeneous and asynchronous nature of Internet computing; such as evolutionary and genetic algorithms, as well as asynchronous newton methods. While in astroinformatics, Milkyway@Home is generating highly accurate three dimensional models of the Sagittarius stream, which provides knowledge about how the Milky Way galaxy was formed and how tidal tails are created when galaxies merge.

Milkyway@Home is a joint effort between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's departments of Computer Science and Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy. Feel free to contact us via our forums, or email astro[at]cs.lists.rpi[dot]edu.

Read more on our Science Page, or check out our YouTube Channel!

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People

Milkyway@Home is currently run by:

Travis Desell, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of North Dakota
Heidi Newberg, Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
Malik Magdon-Ismail, Professor of Computer Science
Carlos Varela, Associate Professor of Computer Science
Boleslaw Szymanski, Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor of Computer Science
Jake Weiss, Postdoctoral Researcher in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
Eric Mendelsohn, Graduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
Blurf, Volunteer Forum Moderator

With Ongoing Support from:

Siddhartha Shelton, PhD Physics
Matthew Newby, Adjunct Faculty in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
Jeffery Thompson, Graduate Research Assistant in Physics, Apllied Physics, and Astronomy
Matt Arsenault, Graduate Research Assistant in Physics

With previous support from:

Benjamin Willet, Postdoctoral Researcher in Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy
Nathan Cole, Graduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy
Maia Marchetti, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
Adam Susser, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
Jake Bauer, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
Steve Ulins, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics
Colin Rice, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics
Shane Reilly, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Computer Science
Joe Doran, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Computer Science
Brian Chitester, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Computer Science
Dave Przybylo, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Computer Science
John Vickers, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy
Anthony Waters, Graduate Research Assistant in Computer Science
Clayton Rayment, Graduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy

Funding

Milkway@home is funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendtions expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.

Individual grants are listed on the information page.

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News

New Separation Runs
Hey Everyone,

I'm taking down the following runs:

de_modfit_70_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_71_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_72_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_73_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_74_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_75_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_76_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_77_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_78_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_79_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_80_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_81_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_82_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_83_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_84_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_85_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_86_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_2
de_modfit_70_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_3

and putting up the following runs:

de_modfit_70_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_71_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_72_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_73_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_74_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_75_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_76_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_77_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_78_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_79_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_80_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_81_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_82_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_83_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_84_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_85_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4
de_modfit_86_bundle5_3s_south_pt2_4

This new batch can be identified with the "_4" at the end rather than "_2" or "_3". As always, you'll see WUs from the old runs for the next week or so as those runs terminate. Please let me know if you experience any issues with the new runs.

Best,
Tom
3 Feb 2023, 15:46:54 UTC · Discuss

Server Issues
Hello everyone,

Looks like the server had some issues. I rebooted the server and it seems like everything should be running as it should.

Thanks,
Kevin
21 Oct 2022, 21:04:23 UTC · Discuss

Server Maintenance 12:00 PM ET (16:00 UTC) 9/23/2022
Hey Everyone,

We've been noticing some occasional long loading times and brief connection disruptions with the server, so I'm going to take things down at noon ET tomorrow (4PM UTC) and reboot the server. It should be back up pretty quickly. Hopefully this fixes the issues we're having.

Best,
Tom
22 Sep 2022, 16:30:55 UTC · Discuss

New MilkyWay@home Scientist
Hello everyone,

My name is Kevin Roux and I will be working with Dr. Newberg for my Ph.D thesis. I look forward to working on this project and working with you all for the next couple of years.

Best,
Kevin Roux
21 Sep 2022, 17:54:01 UTC · Discuss

New MilkyWay@home scientist
Hi, my name is Hiroka. I am a PhD student working with Prof. Newberg. As part of my theses, I am working on the nbody project.

Thank you,
Hiroka
21 Sep 2022, 17:46:42 UTC · Discuss

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