God Mode: Astrophysicists Create 3D Explorable Map of the Universe

Astrophysicists and visual researchers have created computer generated models of the "cosmic web," using different algorithms to link the galaxies of the Universe into a large-scale structure.

A team of astrophysicists and specialists in data visualization have visually connected 24,000 galaxies with more than 100,000 connections, using different network construction algorithms based on various galaxy properties such as location, size and relative velocity.

"The concept of the cosmic web, viewing the Universe as a set of discrete galaxies held together by gravity, is deeply engrained in cosmology. Yet, little is known about the most effective construction and the characteristics of the underlying network," they explain in a paper about their research, published at arXiv.org.

The scientists compared their models to the actual Universe, to find which definition of the cosmic web offers the best correlations between the physical characteristics of the connected galaxies. 

The Network Behind the Cosmic Web [CEA] https://t.co/MBE0fbnwy2 pic.twitter.com/vH0wYuseoI

— arXiver (@arXiver) 13 апреля 2016 г.

​They found the "nearest neighbors model" (M3) in which the length of each link depends on the distance to the nearest galaxy, to be the most accurate algorithm.

"We show that the properties of the networks generated from simulations and observations are identical, unveiling a deep universality of the cosmic web," they wrote.

An interface of each model is available on their Cosmic Web website, which allows users to switch the type of connections that bind galaxies together and rotate, zoom and filter the models.