Our physicists have created a new movie taking us back nine billion years in time to understand the formation of our Milky Way.
"Our Galaxy: a brief history" follows a Milky Way-like galaxy through its turbulent life to help us understand what it looks like today.
Available in 3D and viewed on virtual reality headsets, the movie is expected to be used in outreach with schools and the wider public.
Our Chancellor, Dr Fiona Hill, provides the voiceover for the movie, which was made using a simulation carried out on the COSMA 8 supercomputer hosted by Durham University.
Billions of stars
The movie begins by introducing the Milky Way as it appears today before travelling back in time to observe its collision with the smaller Gaia-Enceladus galaxy.
The resulting merger helped shape the Milky Way into the galaxy we know today.
The movie then fast-forwards to the present day and highlights the galaxy's spiral arms and bright central bar - an elongated expanse of billions of stars stretching across the galactic centre.
Galactic structure
"Our Galaxy: a brief history" is based on simulations devised and performed by the international Auriga Superstars consortium.
The consortium's research aims to uncover the dynamical processes behind the structure of galaxies like the Milky Way.
