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APOD: 2023 December 31 Á Illustris: A Simulation of the Universe
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Credit & Copyright: Illustris Collaboration,
NASA,
PRACE,
XSEDE,
MIT,
Harvard CfA;
Music: The Poisoned Princess (Media Right Productions)
Explanation:
How did we get here?
Click play, sit back, and watch.
A computer simulation
of the evolution of the universe provides insight into how
galaxies formed and perspectives into
humanity's place in the universe.
The Illustris project
exhausted 20 million CPU hours in 2014 following
12 billion resolution elements spanning a cube 35 million
light years
on a side as it evolved over 13 billion years.
The simulation tracks matter into the
formation of a wide variety of
galaxy types.
As the virtual universe evolves, some of the matter expanding with the
universe soon gravitationally condenses to form filaments,
galaxies, and
clusters of galaxies.
The featured video
takes the perspective of a virtual camera circling part of this changing universe,
first showing the evolution of
dark matter, then
hydrogen gas coded by temperature
(0:45),
then heavy elements such as
helium and
carbon
(1:30),
and then back to dark matter
(2:07).
On the lower left the time since the
Big Bang is listed,
while on the lower right the type of matter being shown is listed.
Explosions (0:50) depict galaxy-center supermassive black holes expelling bubbles
of hot gas.
Interesting discrepancies between
Illustris and the
real universe have been studied, including why
the simulation
produced an overabundance of old stars.
Music: The Poisoned Princess (Media Right Productions)
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: universe
Publications with words: universe
See also: