Astronomy / Space A cube of 35 million light-years side

[Patrick_68000]

A cube of 350 million light-years side

A new digital simulation can reproduce with unprecedented precision the evolution of matter and the formation of galaxies over 13 billion years in a cube of 350 million light-years side.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjSFR40SY58#t=76
  
• http://www.illustris-project.org/
  
• http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v509/n7499/full/nature13316.html
  

The photo below of the numerical simulation :Called Illustris, numerical simulation by Mark Vogelsberger and colleagues reached unprecedented accuracy to date. This close-up centered on the clusters of galaxies, the most massive created by the simulation, reveals the complexity of the cosmic frame at the present time, with the filaments of gas (in blue) that extend between clusters and superclusters of galaxies and orange bubbles that indicate the influence intergalactic of supermassive black holes.

 

[Ayo]

It would take a regular desktop computer 2000 years to do the same simulation. I bet it took a while even with a super-computer.

Edit: According to my calculations based on the info on this page, the largest simulation they did took 96 days 15 hours 20 minutes 9.375 seconds.

That's 19 million CPU hours over 8,192 compute cores.

 

[Patrick_68000]

the largest simulation they did took 96 days 15 hours 20 minutes 9.375 seconds.

It would be really substantial. All these scales of greatness make me crazy. It's like the cube of 350 million light years side. It is still a small cube in the infinite vastness of the universe

 

[jan]

When i look at that picture it looks more and more like neurons inside a brain.

 

[Zieman]

When i look at that picture it looks more and more like neurons inside a brain.

Making us some Planck-scale strings milling around on electrons...

 

[Patrick_68000]

When i look at that picture it looks more and more like neurons inside a brain.

Yes, I have often asked myself if ultimately we are not a simple cell in a living organism

 

[Zieman]

Yes, I have often asked myself if ultimately we are not a simple cell in a living organism

Or much less than that.

Galaxy clusters being (analogy) cells lead to star systems being atoms (planets etc. in orbit electrons) and us, mere humans, something infinitesimally small on those electrons...

 

[Patrick_68000]

Or much less than that.

Galaxy clusters being (analogy) cells lead to star systems being atoms (planets etc. in orbit electrons) and us, mere humans, something infinitesimally small on those electrons...

...

 

[Memnoch]

I've always been fascinated by the larger scale of the universe, or cosmos. Things like the Bootes void, and given that it is so vast, is it possible we could be in one?