Illustris project

The Illustris project is like a large game. Scientists used it to make a computer simulation of how the universe might have developed over billions of years. They put in basic information about the universe, like things like atomic particles and how they look and move. They ran the computer program to 'play' the game and see what happened over time. It was like a very large version of a game like The Sims. The computers tested out lots of different things, like what happens when stars and galaxies form and move, to understand how the universe works better.