The team, which includes Northwestern University astrophysicists, devised the mathematically driven sequence that lets stargazers drift around a cosmic nursery as shining stars begin to appear. STARFORGE (Star Formation in Gaseous Environments) is the computational foundation with which this gas cloud simulation is able to render the stirring episode, a heavenly event that’s 100 times bigger than previous attempts and replete with vivid colors. Video of STARFORGE: The Anvil of Creation “People have been simulating star formation for a couple decades now, but STARFORGE is a quantum leap in technology,” explained lead author Michael Grudić, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, in a post on Northwestern Now. “Other models have only been able to simulate a tiny patch of the cloud where stars form — not the entire cloud in high resolution. Without seeing the big picture, we miss a lot of factors that might influence the star’s outcome.”