The evolution
of the universe.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSE

A place between galaxies.

You are at the center of a simulated region, looking out in every direction. Its width is 11.1 comoving Mpc: about 36 million light-years across when expressed at today's scale. Its proper size changes with expansion: its proper size is loading.

Loading the film's cosmic-time interval…

Brightness shows gas column density; hue shows the column-density-weighted gas temperature. The two lower-right keys use the film's fixed logarithmic ranges: 10⁴–10⁸ K and approximately 3.2×10⁴–5.0×10⁶ M☉ / ckpc². Here M☉ is a solar mass and ckpc is a comoving kiloparsec. Values beyond the endpoints clip; dense cores also become pale. These keys describe the rendering, so a pixel's color cannot uniquely determine its temperature or gas column. They are not telescope brightness or visible-light colors.

The film uses all gas cells in 4,380 consecutive outputs of TNG100-2 Subbox 0, covering cosmic ages from about 50 million to 13.8 billion years. Between outputs, positions follow persistent cell IDs and their recorded velocities; cells that appear or disappear fade locally.

TNG models gravity, gas, stars, feedback and magnetic fields. This film shows gas density and temperature. Stored temperatures are approximate, especially in star-forming gas. Bright knots are dense structures; individual stars and spiral disks are not resolved in this view.

360° monoscopic video, 30 fps. The viewpoint stays fixed in comoving coordinates. Turn your head to look around; moving your head sideways adds no parallax. This is a simultaneous simulation view, not a telescope observation. The film includes AI-generated narration, a meditative AI-generated instrumental score inspired by the simulation, and sparse film text. Narration is off by default. Sound is an artistic accompaniment, not measured cosmic audio. Its spatial directions are musical, not physical event locations.

The underlying TNG100-2 run used 2,688 CPU cores and approximately 600,000 core-hours (Pillepich et al., Table 1). These figures describe the parent simulation. This film uses TNG100-2, from the TNG100 generation introduced in 2017–2018; the 26-month run completed in 2019 was TNG50. Full simulation credit, people, history and papers. Gas outflows in the model are powered by collective supernova feedback and supermassive black holes; collapse and collisions also produce shocks (TNG model).

At 0:15–0:28.5, pointers identify three measured stellar-wind regions, appearing as each has source measurements. At 0:30.5–0:39.5, a separate sequence identifies two black holes with recorded thermal feedback. At 0:50–0:59, pointers identify two catalogued galaxies. At 2:10–2:25, a line shows the three-dimensional physical separation of two measured centers. These are collective effects; individual supernovae and the cause of every visible puff are not resolved. All text, timings & measurement notes · Annotation measurements.

The era title beside the age clock gives broad cosmological context, with approximate chapter boundaries. It is not a detection of the first stars or a local measurement of the cosmic star-formation peak. Cosmic history · Cosmic star-formation history.

SOUND & TEXT

A little room to listen.

The film opens with music. Add Brian’s narration, hide the text, or explore in silence. In 360°, use the floating panel to pause, seek, or adjust sound. Look at a button and pinch; pinch elsewhere to bring the panel back.

Preparing the soundtrack…

The film plays at its authored pace. Narration and music follow seeks. Spatial music responds to where you look; the narrator stays centered.

AI-generated voice, not a human narrator. Music and spatial placement are artistic choices. Sparse markers identify early stellar feedback, catalogued galaxies, physical separation, and a black hole injecting energy. Individual supernovae are not resolved.

All on-screen text & timingsOptional narration transcriptGuide provenance