Cosmic Symphony: Interactive Galaxy Collision Simulator
Experience the beauty and chaos of galaxy collisions through Newtonian gravity, interactive controls, and cinematic scientific visualization.
What it does
Cosmic Symphony is a interactive galaxy collision simulator built with Python and Taichi, combining computational astrophysics with scientific visualization. The simulation models two spiral galaxies evolving under Newtonian gravity, where thousands of particles interact with supermassive galactic cores to produce realistic orbital motion, tidal tails, and galaxy mergers.
Using Plummer-softened gravity and leapfrog integration, the simulation maintains stable and physically meaningful trajectories while remaining computationally efficient. Every frame is computed in real time, allowing users to explore gravitational dynamics through interactive controls such as mouse driven attractors, particle spawning, simulation speed adjustment, and multiple orbital presets.
Beyond scientific accuracy, the project emphasizes visual storytelling through glowing particles, cinematic trails, HDR rendering, gravitational field visualization, and energy-based color mapping. The result is an immersive experience that demonstrates how complex astrophysical phenomena emerge from simple physical laws.
Cosmic Symphony aims to bridge the gap between science and interactive art, making celestial mechanics intuitive, engaging, and visually compelling while showcasing the power of GPU accelerated physics simulation.