An international team of researchers has created the most complete visual simulation of how the Universe evolved.
The computer model shows how the first galaxies formed around clumps of a mysterious, invisible substance called dark matter. It is the first time that the Universe has been modelled so extensively and to such great resolution.
The research has been published in the journal Nature.
The simulation will provide a test bed for emerging theories of what the Universe is made of and what makes it tick.
One of the world's leading authorities on galaxy formation, Professor Richard Ellis of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, described the simulation as "fabulous".
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