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Scientists simulate the Milky Way’s formation by numerically evolving dark matter and ordinary matter in an expanding-universe setting, calculating how gravity and gas dynamics shape galaxies over time. Models add prescriptions for processes such as star formation, stellar feedback, and black-hole growth, then researchers compare their results with observations of real galaxies and the Milky Way. These simulations are evidence-based models—not recordings of our Galaxy’s past.

What is a cosmological simulation?

A cosmological simulation is a numerical model that evolves matter and structure within an expanding-universe context. Rather than start with a finished Milky Way and run its history backward, scientists set up early-universe conditions and calculate how structures develop toward the present. The Illustris Project describes its simulation as beginning with conditions resembling the universe about 300,000 years after the Big Bang and evolving forward.

The calculation tracks dark matter and ordinary matter under gravity. Ordinary matter includes gas, which can cool, move, form stars, and be affected by energy released from stars and black holes. The visible galaxy emerges from the interaction of these ingredients, rather than from gravity alone.

How do scientists model gas, stars, and black holes?

Hydrodynamics is the calculation of gas motion. In Illustris, the AREPO code uses a moving, unstructured mesh whose cells follow gas flow. The IllustrisTNG project describes a moving Voronoi mesh for magnetohydrodynamics—the study of electrically conducting fluids and magnetic fields—and a split Tree-PM method for calculating gravity.

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Galaxy-formation models also represent physical processes that turn gas into the stars and structures astronomers observe. These include gas cooling, star formation, stellar evolution, the production and dispersal of chemical elements, outflows driven by stellar activity, and the formation, growth, and feedback of supermassive black holes. The details of these processes are part of the model, not all direct outputs of a gravity calculation. The IllustrisTNG model paper describes the physics and its limitations.

Why use subgrid physics?

A simulation cannot resolve every scale inside a galaxy. For example, it cannot directly calculate all the turbulent structure of the interstellar medium or follow every small site where stars and black holes form. Researchers represent the effects of such unresolved processes with subgrid physics: prescriptions for how below-resolution phenomena influence the larger-scale calculation.

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Those prescriptions and numerical choices matter. A simulated galaxy is therefore a physically motivated result conditioned on the model’s assumptions and resolution; it is not a unique reconstruction of every event in the Milky Way’s history.

What is a zoom-in simulation?

A zoom-in simulation focuses extra computational resolution on a selected halo or small set of galaxies while retaining the surrounding cosmological environment. This lets researchers examine a Milky Way-like system in greater detail than would be practical for every galaxy in a large volume. The Auriga Project is a high-resolution cosmological zoom-in project focused on Milky Way-sized galaxies.

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Large-volume and zoom-in simulations answer complementary questions. A broad volume provides many galaxies and environments for population-level comparisons; a zoom-in devotes more resolution to selected targets. TNG50 combines a cosmological volume with a sample of roughly 100 Milky Way-mass analogues, according to the IllustrisTNG project description. This is a project-reported figure, not an independent measurement, and the page does not specify its original publication year.

Approach What it prioritizes Example
Large cosmological volume Many galaxies and environments, useful for comparing populations IllustrisTNG
High-resolution zoom-in More computational resolution for selected Milky Way-sized targets within their cosmological setting Auriga
Combined volume and resolution A cosmological volume plus a sample of Milky Way-mass analogues TNG50: roughly 100 analogues, as reported by the project

These are design tradeoffs, not a ranking: the appropriate approach depends on whether a study needs a broad galaxy sample or detailed histories for selected systems.

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How do astronomers know whether a simulation is realistic?

Researchers compare simulated results with observed galaxy populations and with measurements of the Milky Way. Gaia’s measurements of stellar positions and motions help astronomers study the Galaxy’s composition, formation, and evolution. NASA describes the mission’s mapping goal as covering about 1% of the Milky Way’s approximately 100 billion stars; this is a mission-page figure, not a count of stars individually mapped in a completed census (NASA Science: Gaia).

Projects can also create mock catalogues: simulated observations designed for comparison with real survey data. Auriga has released mock catalogues based on Gaia DR2, as described on the Auriga Project page. Agreement with observations can constrain a model’s assumptions and help researchers assess its predictions. It does not prove that every inferred event happened exactly as simulated; different assumptions may produce outcomes that fit some of the same evidence.

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Can you explore the simulations yourself?

IllustrisTNG publicly describes simulation outputs, documentation, tutorials, API access, catalogue tools, visualizations, and browser-based JupyterLab through its public data access page. Working with released data is different from running the original high-performance simulation, which requires the substantial computational resources used to produce it.

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