NASA has released a stunning simulation video that shows how a single disk galaxy such as the Milky Way develops over a span of 13.5 billion years, beginning with the Big Bang and leading up to today.
A disk galaxy, which is described as a flattened circular volume of stars, is color-coded in this captivating clip to show its history and development process.
For example, older stars are highlighted in red, while younger stars are shown in white and bright blue. The pale blue color represents the distribution of gas density.
To put the size of this in perspective, NASA reveals the view is about 300,000 light-years across (a light-year is the distance light can travel in a year).
Although this video may just be a computer-generated model of the real thing, it's worth all 2:17 minutes of your time and reminds you just how small you are in this giant universe.