<s>
MilkyWay	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
is	O
a	O
volunteer	B-Operating_System
computing	I-Operating_System
project	O
in	O
the	O
astrophysics	O
category	O
,	O
running	O
on	O
the	O
Berkeley	B-Operating_System
Open	I-Operating_System
Infrastructure	I-Operating_System
for	I-Operating_System
Network	I-Operating_System
Computing	I-Operating_System
(	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
)	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
spare	O
computing	O
power	O
from	O
over	O
38,000	O
computers	O
run	O
by	O
over	O
27,000	O
active	O
volunteers	O
,	O
the	O
MilkyWay	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
project	O
aims	O
to	O
generate	O
accurate	O
three-dimensional	O
dynamic	O
models	O
of	O
stellar	O
streams	O
in	O
the	O
immediate	O
vicinity	O
of	O
the	O
Milky	O
Way	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
SETI	B-Application
@home	I-Application
and	O
Einstein	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
,	O
it	O
is	O
the	O
third	O
computing	O
project	O
of	O
this	O
type	O
that	O
has	O
the	O
investigation	O
of	O
phenomena	O
in	O
interstellar	O
space	O
as	O
its	O
primary	O
purpose	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
secondary	O
objective	O
is	O
to	O
develop	O
and	O
optimize	O
algorithms	O
for	O
volunteer	B-Operating_System
computing	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
MilkyWay	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
is	O
a	O
collaboration	O
between	O
the	O
Rensselaer	O
Polytechnic	O
Institute	O
's	O
departments	O
of	O
Computer	B-General_Concept
Science	I-General_Concept
and	O
Physics	O
,	O
Applied	O
Physics	O
and	O
Astronomy	O
and	O
is	O
supported	O
by	O
the	O
U.S.	O
National	O
Science	O
Foundation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
operated	O
by	O
a	O
team	O
that	O
includes	O
astrophysicist	O
Heidi	O
Jo	O
Newberg	O
and	O
computer	B-General_Concept
scientists	I-General_Concept
Malik	O
Magdon-Ismail	O
,	O
Bolesław	O
Szymański	O
and	O
Carlos	O
A	O
.	O
Varela	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
could	O
also	O
provide	O
insight	O
on	O
the	O
dark	B-Application
matter	I-Application
issue	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
data	O
from	O
the	O
Sloan	O
Digital	O
Sky	O
Survey	O
,	O
MilkyWay	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
divides	O
starfields	O
into	O
wedges	O
of	O
about	O
2.5	O
deg	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
width	O
and	O
applies	O
self-optimizing	O
probabilistic	O
separation	O
techniques	O
(	O
i.e.	O
,	O
evolutionary	B-Algorithm
algorithms	I-Algorithm
)	O
to	O
extract	O
the	O
optimized	O
tidal	O
streams	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MilkyWay	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
has	O
been	O
active	O
since	O
2007	O
,	O
and	O
optimized	O
client	O
applications	O
for	O
32-bit	O
and	O
64-bit	B-Device
operating	O
systems	O
became	O
available	O
in	O
2008	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
screensaver	O
capability	O
is	O
limited	O
to	O
a	O
revolving	O
display	O
of	O
users	O
 '	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
statistics	O
,	O
with	O
no	O
graphical	O
component	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
work	O
units	O
that	O
are	O
sent	O
out	O
to	O
clients	O
used	O
to	O
require	O
only	O
2	O
–	O
4	O
hours	O
of	O
computation	O
on	O
modern	O
CPUs	B-General_Concept
,	O
however	O
,	O
they	O
were	O
scheduled	O
for	O
completion	O
with	O
a	O
short	O
deadline	O
(	O
typically	O
,	O
three	O
days	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
made	O
the	O
project	O
less	O
suitable	O
for	O
computers	O
that	O
are	O
not	O
in	O
operation	O
for	O
periods	O
of	O
several	O
days	O
,	O
or	O
for	O
user	O
accounts	O
that	O
do	O
not	O
allow	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
to	O
compute	O
in	O
the	O
background	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
2018	O
,	O
many	O
GPU-based	O
tasks	O
only	O
require	O
less	O
than	O
a	O
minute	O
to	O
complete	O
on	O
a	O
high-end	O
graphics	O
card	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
,	O
these	O
figures	O
were	O
at	O
44,900	O
users	O
and	O
1,590	O
teams	O
in	O
170	O
countries	O
,	O
but	O
average	O
computing	O
power	O
had	O
jumped	O
to	O
1,382	O
TFlops	O
,	O
which	O
would	O
rank	O
MilkyWay	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
second	O
among	O
the	O
TOP500	B-Operating_System
list	B-Operating_System
of	I-Operating_System
supercomputers	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
MilkyWay	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
is	O
currently	O
the	O
2nd	O
largest	O
volunteer	B-Operating_System
computing	I-Operating_System
project	O
behind	O
Folding	B-Application
@Home	I-Application
which	O
crossed	O
5,000	O
TFlops	O
in	O
2009	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
That	O
data	O
throughput	O
massively	O
outpaced	O
new	O
user	O
acquisition	O
is	O
mostly	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
deployment	O
of	O
client	O
software	O
that	O
uses	O
commonly	O
available	O
medium	O
and	O
high	O
performance	O
graphics	B-Architecture
processing	I-Architecture
units	I-Architecture
(	O
GPUs	B-Architecture
)	O
for	O
numerical	O
operations	O
in	O
Windows	O
and	O
Linux	O
environments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MilkyWay	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
CUDA	B-Architecture
code	O
for	O
a	O
broad	O
range	O
of	O
Nvidia	O
GPUs	B-Architecture
was	O
first	O
released	O
on	O
the	O
project	O
's	O
on	O
June	O
11	O
,	O
2009	O
following	O
experimental	O
releases	O
in	O
the	O
MilkyWay	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
(	O
GPU	B-Architecture
)	O
fork	O
of	O
the	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
OpenCL	O
application	O
for	O
AMD	O
Radeon	O
GPUs	B-Architecture
is	O
also	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MilkyWay	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
is	O
a	O
whitelisted	O
gridcoin	B-Operating_System
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
the	O
second-largest	O
manufacturer	O
of	O
gridcoins	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Large	O
parts	O
of	O
the	O
MilkyWay	B-Operating_System
@home	I-Operating_System
project	O
are	O
created	O
for	O
Nathan	O
Cole	O
's	O
thesis	O
and	O
there	O
are	O
also	O
several	O
other	O
theses	O
and	O
scientific	O
publications	O
inspired	O
by	O
the	O
resulting	O
calculations	O
of	O
this	O
projects	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
