What Does It Do?

One of the world's mightiest supercomputers, the IBM RS/6000 SP ASCI Blue-Pacific, worked for three days to come up with this sunflower-like simulation. Now physicists can understand the makeup of Polaris and its sisters. While the size of this digital snapshot may not immediately impress, figure each inch represents 3.4 million miles. That's quite a […]

One of the world's mightiest supercomputers, the IBM RS/6000 SP ASCI Blue-Pacific, worked for three days to come up with this sunflower-like simulation. Now physicists can understand the makeup of Polaris and its sisters. While the size of this digital snapshot may not immediately impress, figure each inch represents 3.4 million miles. That's quite a hunk of burning matter.

What is it, anyway? And what does it do?

The Wired Contest
The rules: Identify the pictured item above (by manufacturer or creator) and its function. Correct entries will be placed in a random grand prize competition, with one winner drawn early next year awarded a Harley-Davidson XL 1200S Sportster. In 1957 the lean, street-fighting Sportster was born, and now is Harley-Davidson's longest-running model. For contest rules, prize information, and the answer to April's "What Does It Do?" click here.

__ Win a Harley-Davidson XL 1200S Sportster __