Dr. Wolfgang Steffen

Perfection is not an option

My work mainly moves around the interface between theoretical studies of hydrodynamic flows and their observations, developing effective ways to directly compare observations of particular objects with theoretical models. During my early career I developed models for the kinematics and brightness variations in relativistic helical radio jets and the hydrodynamic interaction of radio jets with the interstellar medium in Seyfert galaxies.

More recently my work has been mainly on the hydrodynamics and kinematics of circumstellar nebulae, applying hydrodynamic simulations and 3D morpho-kinematic modeling. The development and application of the interactive 3D morpho-kinematic modeling code Shape together with Nico Koning is currently the main focus of research. Circumstellar environments, 3D hydrodynamics, radiation transfer, exoplanet transits, or even quark novae, are prime targets for the application of Shape.

The development of Shape is based on my experience with the 3D visualization of astrophysical phenomena using computer graphics tools like 3DStudioMax and Blender. Using 3DStudio Max I produce videos and computer animations of astronomical topics for press releases and educational purposes in general. Some of this work can be found on my YouTube channel.