Visualisations
The following visualisations and movies are free to use under the CC-BY-SA license. If you use these, please (1) acknowledge D. Horta and (2) carry this license along if you re-distribute any material.
Assembly history of a Milky Way-mass galaxy
The two animations below were created using the FIRE-2 cosmological simulations (m12m). They show star particles belonging to different "building-blocks" — accreted satellite galaxies consumed by a Milky Way-mass host — as a function of cosmic time. Each merger is shown in a distinct colour.
Spatial coordinates (X–Z)
Star particles shown in the X–Z plane, centred on the host Milky Way-mass halo.
Energy–angular momentum (E–Lz)
The same mergers in the E–Lz diagram, the space dynamicists use to identify distinct accretion events.