It took billions of years for the galaxies in our Universe to form and to evolve to their present state. Astronomers simulate their formation in the computer. Studying time-lapse visualisations of the evolving Universe since the big bang, they strive to decipher the building blocks of the cosmos and to comprehend its overall nature.

The computer simulations exhibit countless different types of galaxy shapes and structures, of individual galaxies and galaxy mergers. The structure formation is driven by the gravitational force of matter – where next to luminous „normal“ matter „Dark Matter“ plays a crucial role. Gravitation will also be responsible for an important galactic event in our direct neighborhood in about 10 billion years, when our Milky Way should collide and merge with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy.

Video & Simulation Credits: A. Khalatyan / AIP , C.Scannapieco, CLUES-Projekt