With efficient algorithms and the power of the the ALCF's Mira supercomputer, UC Santa Barbara researcher Lars Bildsten and his colleagues have begun to model the variability in three dimensions across an entire massive star. The team aims to make predictions about these stars that observers can test. They’ve published the initial results from these large-scale simulations – linking brightness changes in massive stars with temperature fluctuations on their surfaces – in the Sept. 27 issue of the journal Nature.