Astronomy

Simulated Nebula
Our galaxy modeller includes interactions between starlight and interstellar gas and dust, shown in the image on the left. Here the light from the central blue star is being reflected off a dust cloud (below and to the right) and is ionizing a gas cloud, causing it to glow red (above and to the left).

Simulated Galaxy
By automated analysis of a telescope image, our galaxy modeller is able to construct a 3D digital model of a galaxy containing millions of individual stars, shown in the image on the right. This simulated edge-on view of spiral galaxy M83 (the Southern Pinwheel), which can only be viewed face-on from Earth, highlights the dust lanes present in its disc.