“Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.” The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy, as it so often is, is absolutely right about this. In a cosmic field so mind-bogglingly big, there are bound to be enormous stretches of it that are vastly, hugely beautiful. One of those gorgeous things is the supernova, an astronomical event that occurs upon the death of a giant star. It can be difficult for us to fathom how large a supernova really is, but French videographer Thomas Vanz took a stab at visualizing the phenomenon using just in and water in his latest video, Novae (via JazJaz).

Vanz said about his inspiration for the project:

“In 2015, I discovered a bunch of artists who were using plate glass, inks and oil in order to make interesting compositions with lights and textures that reminded me, in a paradoxical way, of all the cosmic imagery from the Hubble telescope. I soon [learned] to make microscopic things looks like giant nebulae using this process. In this way, I started shooting at my home, with a quick DIY setup, but I discovered that it was essentially useful for making still images with an amazing amount of details, but not really animated in the way I wanted, in consideration of the idea of making a supernova that was growing in my mind.”

Then he began shooting in an aquarium and was able to replicate how gases and other elements would behave in an actual supernova. Once he figured out his process, he shot for two months with different types and colors of inks, each producing a different result, many of which are included in the short film above.

Watch Novae above, and for further information, Vanz has created two behind-the-scenes videos also on his Vimeo page.

Featured image: Thomas Vanz/Vimeo