Movies
Anvil of Creation in 360 Planetarium Dome Format
This was done in collaboration with the Mannheim Planetarium, see here and here for download options.
360°Pillars in STARFORGE
This 360° movie shows a massive (20,000 solar mass) star forming molecular cloud as it is being destroyed by newly born stars. This happens due to massive stars that are extremely bright and launch powerful stellar winds, which both heat and push away the nearby gas. This "push" quickly expels low density gas, while the higher density regions coalesce into dense "pillars", which take longer to push away.You can download it here.
The Anvil of Creation in 360°, kinematic and surface density maps
Two 360° movies of a STARFORGE star formation simulation that follows the evolution of a massive (20,000 solar mass) star forming molecular cloud ("Anvil of Creation") with individual star formation and a comprehensive treatment of feedback, from protostellar jets, radiation, stellar winds, and core-collapse supernovae. The first movie shows a kinematic map (combined density and velocity information) while the second shows the surface density of the cloud. You can learn more about the simulations here and download the kinematic and the surface density videos here and here.
The Anvil of Creation
This is a movie of the first numerical simulation of star formation in a massive (20,000 solar mass) giant molecular cloud with individual star formation and a comprehensive treatment of feedback, from protostellar jets, radiation in 5 frequency bands, stellar winds, and core-collapse supernovae. This makes it the first full STARFORGE simulation. This particular cloud has been nicknamed the "Anvil of Creation". Learn more about how we did it here and download it here.
Pillars in the Anvil of Creation
This is a 3D rendering of the dust, stars, and luminous gas in a STARFORGE simulation at the time when the cloud is starting to be disrupted by feedback. Pillar structures emerge in the dust morphology as warm, photo-ionized gas escapes around dense clumps. Download
Supersonic MHD Turbuelnce
Here we visualize what happens when you have an isothermal plasma that always stays at around 10K (like in a molecular cloud), threaded by a magnetic field, and you stir it up until it reaches Mach ~9. Intricate networks of shocks and filaments form, and it is believed that this is a key process in the formation of dense cores that go on to form stars and star clusters. This simulation does not include gravity, but it it did, the stage would be set for star formation. Download here.
Star formation in a massive giant molecular cloud
Simulation of star formation in a giant molecular cloud, the first such simulation of a massive (200,000 solar mass) cloud with enough resolution to follow the formation of individual stars (we follow individual gas elements 1/1000 the mass of the Sun). Color visualizes the projected density of the cloud, and each point represents a single star. Paper Download link
Protostellar Jets
A rotating gas core collapses, forming a central star that launches bipolar jets along its poles as it feeds on gas from the surrounding disk. The jets entrain gas away from the core, limiting the amount that the star can ultimately accrete. Download