Cosmology // Large-Scale Structure of the Universe

In taking a minor of astrophysics, most students usually capstone their minor by taking a class on cosmology. This subset of astrophysics can best be described as the one that deals with the large-scale structure of the universe and looks at universal phenomena through the eyes of the Cosmological principle. Their are plenty of details to get into, but to sum up the main points, when looked at through very large scales the universe looks the same in all directions and has no central location.

Image of the Carina Nebula

Okay..

What does that even mean? Well if you are in the middle of the ocean and see no land anywhere on the horizon, then everything looks the same in all directions. So the first point does make some sense. But what about the universe having no central location? That is pretty strange to me. Almost every physical thing has a central location. One could try to maybe make the case that 'the internet' has no central location, but then someone else comes along and says that "Well, it's safe to assume that as far as we know, the internet can be centralized to the planet Earth." So how do you visualize something with no center?

Well here is one way to do it...

This is a huge computer simulation of a bunch of 'gravitational-bound' particles interacting with one another, as the computer program is run, they begin to coalesce into a certain structure at different scales.

The diagram below shows how objects at these different scales look like compared to one another.

If the video above reminds you of neurons, you are not crazy. Almost everyone I've showed this video to says this about it.