Illustris: A Simulation of the Universe

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.