Galaxy Evolution Visualized

My work focuses on using Galacticus to simulate the evolution of dark matter halos and our galaxies. However, sometimes it is hard to imagine what these simulations really look like. Here, you can watch and explore as a simulated galaxy grows and evolves over the age of the Universe. Try toggling "Galaxies only" to see what it would look like if we were to see it through a telescope, or choose "Dark matter only" to visualize the invisible structures that hold it all together. You can pause the simulation and hover over components to learn more!

Drag to rotate, scroll to zoom. Data is a static export of a single Galacticus tree from my dark-matter substructure simulations. Top 50 subhalos by infall mass are shown.