Galactic Bridges and Tails (1971 film)
Encyclopedia
Galactic Bridges and Tails is a computer animation film created by astrophysicists Alar Toomre
and Juri Toomre. The brothers created the film as a teaching aid for their landmark research paper of the same name, published in The Astrophysical Journal, detailing the collision of galaxies or galaxy merger
s.
and 3D computer graphics
simulations with time-lapse
of colliding galaxies. The animation compresses millions of years into a couple minutes.
code, which sent character and vector info to a CRT-based ASCII
character film recorder. The film recorder exposed multiple frames of 16mm film, creating the computer animation.
(1080p24) master.
model titled Spiral Galaxy Formation Simulation for use within their MATLAB
programming environment. The company claims their computer animation model was inspired by the original Galactic Bridges and Tails paper and film.
Alar Toomre
Alar Toomre is an Estonian-born astronomer and mathematician who immigrated to the United States in 1949. He is a professor of applied mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
and Juri Toomre. The brothers created the film as a teaching aid for their landmark research paper of the same name, published in The Astrophysical Journal, detailing the collision of galaxies or galaxy merger
Galaxy merger
Galaxy mergers can occur when two galaxies collide. They are the most violent type of galaxy interaction. Although galaxy mergers do not involve stars or star systems actually colliding, due to the vast distances between stars in most circumstances, the gravitational interactions between galaxies...
s.
Film simulation
The Toomre film contains both 2D2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
and 3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
simulations with time-lapse
Time-lapse
Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing...
of colliding galaxies. The animation compresses millions of years into a couple minutes.
Technology
The Brothers Toomre programmed the animation with FORTRANFortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
code, which sent character and vector info to a CRT-based ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
character film recorder. The film recorder exposed multiple frames of 16mm film, creating the computer animation.
Restoration
In 2007, filmmaker Michael Lauter worked with the Brothers Toomre to digitally restore the 16mm original film and create a new HD videoHigh-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
(1080p24) master.
Derivative simulations
Massachusetts-based MathWorks, has created a SimulinkSimulink
Simulink, developed by MathWorks, is a commercial tool for modeling, simulating and analyzing multidomain dynamic systems. Its primary interface is a graphical block diagramming tool and a customizable set of block libraries. It offers tight integration with the rest of the MATLAB environment and...
model titled Spiral Galaxy Formation Simulation for use within their MATLAB
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...
programming environment. The company claims their computer animation model was inspired by the original Galactic Bridges and Tails paper and film.