14 DAY TRIAL // Our understanding of the Universe can be considered minimal at best. Still, each day brings new data and what we can't see we can imagine. Or the 21 century equivalent of imagining something, computer simulations.
NASA has published one of the most interesting clips you're going to see in a while, the complete lifespan of a disc galaxy from its creation 13.5 billion years ago to the present day.
The video is spectacular, to say the least. While a disc galaxy may be one of the most boring – if anything about a galaxy can be called boring – types, especially in its stable form, its creation is anything but.
Gigantic gas clouds collide and get spun around by gravity, dwarf galaxies are tossed in a chaotic movement, losing big amounts of their mass every time they go near the larger galaxy.
It's only towards the very end that the familiar shape is clearer and even then there's plenty of violent movement.