Tidal Dance- Milky way and Andromeda galaxies Merge

This simulation models the gravitational interaction between the Milky Way and Andromeda as two mutually interacting galaxies. As they approach, their gravitational fields influence the motion of stars and produce differential tidal effects: stars on the nearer sides respond more strongly and earlier, while more distant regions respond more gradually. The simulation visualizes the resulting motion, distortion, tidal structures and eventual merging behaviour of the two galaxies. I built the simulation as a particle-based computational model and used Python and Taichi to handle the numerical simulation and visualization. I focused on making the physical interaction visible rather than treating the galaxies as two objects simply moving toward each other. One of the main things I had to figure out was how to make the mutual gravitational interaction produce visibly different responses across each galaxy while keeping the overall motion coherent. The visual design was then built around those physical effects, so the changing structure of the galaxies communicates what gravity is doing.