Star Forming Simulation Eye Candy

June 25, 2009

We all know that stars form after the gravitational collapse of vast clouds of gas, but until you see a simulation of the dynamics of that cloud, you don't fully appreciate what really goes on. In this star formation animation created by Matthew Bate, Ian Bonnell, and Volker Bromm from the UK Astrophysical Fluids Facility at the University of Leicester, I think you get a very real feeling as to what happens when a molecular cloud collapses... only sped up (otherwise you'll be waiting for several hundred million years for your first bright dot to appear).

Although this video is from 2008, I've only just seen it thanks to my bestest mate Dan (check out his blog, The Quibble) and thought I'd share!

There's one thing that's nagging me however... doesn't this simulation resemble a certain, hopelessly addictive and incredibly cool star formation game?