To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=102&v=cNT5yAqpBmI
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.
