IllustrisTNG, a next-gen simulator for cosmological events, created this beautiful animation of a “late-type” star-forming galaxy. It’s fascinating to watch how mind-boggling mass and energy on a mind-boggling time scale looks familiar to observable phenomena on earth.
Formation of a massive “late-type”, star-forming disk galaxy. The video tracks an individual system through time, showing its stellar light in a 500 kiloparsec region. This galaxy exhibits rapid ongoing star formation in an extended, clumpy disk, until it experiences a late-time merger (at approximately z ~ 0.3) with a nearly equal mass companion.
For more on the IllustrisTNG Project, check out their site.
• IllustrisTNG: “late-type” star-forming galaxy (YouTube / TheHITSters)