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Credit & Copyright: IllustrisTNG Project;
Visualization:
Dylan Nelson
(Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics) et al.
Music: Symphony No. 5 (Ludwig van Beethoven), via YouTube Audio Library
Explanation:
How do clusters of galaxies form?
Since our universe moves too slowly to watch,
faster-moving computer simulations are created to help find out.
A recent effort is
TNG50 from
IllustrisTNG, an upgrade of the famous
Illustris Simulation.
The first part of the
featured video
tracks cosmic gas (mostly
hydrogen)
as it evolves into
galaxies and
galaxy clusters
from the early universe to today, with brighter colors marking faster moving gas.
As the universe matures, gas falls into
gravitational wells,
galaxies forms, galaxies spin, galaxies collide and merge, all while
black holes form in galaxy centers
and expel surrounding gas at high speeds.
The second half of
the video switches to tracking stars,
showing a galaxy cluster coming together complete with
tidal tails and
stellar streams.
The outflow from black holes in
TNG50 is
surprisingly complex and details are being compared with our
real universe.
Studying how gas coalesced in the
early universe
helps humanity better understand how our
Earth,
Sun, and
Solar System
originally formed.
Music: Symphony No. 5 (Ludwig van Beethoven), via YouTube Audio Library
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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: cluster of galaxies
Publications with words: cluster of galaxies
See also: