Some objects are too big for us to interact with in any meaningful way. We often consider those things that are far too small to be seen or handled, but large objects can be just as problematic. Galaxies are so huge, as Professor Brian Cox never tires of reminding us, that even the idea of flying straight through one doesn’t really make much sense—unless you were a light particle, and even in that case you would be subjected to the gravitational pull of stars and it would take you a time much, much longer than our average lifespan to go from one side of the galaxy to the other. That’s where computer models come in handy. Even though they do not reproduce every tiny feature and local peculiarity of the known universe, they can be made to produce large collections of simulated space objects that collectively behave like—and hopefully provide some insight on—the real thing.

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  1. scientificbritain posted this