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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                 2023 December 31   
      
                      Illustris: A Simulation of the Universe   
      Video Credit: 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.   
      
                        Tomorrow's picture: a grand design   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
                   NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices   
                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
   --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-6   
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