bow shocks tagged posts

The MMS satellites encounter a shock wave that forms when a fast wind of charged particles from the Sun slams into Earth’s magnetic field. Credit: APS/Carin Cain

In a new study researchers at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics have used measurements from NASA’s MMS (Magnetospheric MultiScale) satellites to reveal that there are ripples, or surface waves, moving along the surface of shocks in space. Such ripples in shocks can affect how plasma is heated and are potential sites of particle acceleration.

Most visible matter in the Universe consists of ionized gas known as plasma. Shock waves in plasmas form around planets, stars and supernovas. Shocks in supernova explosions are thought to be the main source of cosmic rays – very high energy charged particles from space...

In the last year, astronomers from Wyoming Uni have discovered 100 of the fastest-moving stars in the Milky Way galaxy with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and use of the Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) on Jelm Mountain, Wyo.

When some swift, massive stars – moving at > 50,000 miles/h- plow through space, they can cause material to stack up in front of them in the same way that water piles up ahead of a ship or a supersonic plane creates a shockwave in front of it. Called bow shocks, these dramatic arc-shaped features in space are helping researchers to uncover massive, so-called runaway stars...

Bow shocks thought to mark the paths of massive, speeding stars are highlighted in these images from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Wyoming

Astronomers are finding dozens of the fastest stars in our galaxy with the help of images from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. When some speedy, massive stars plow through space, they can cause material to stack up in front of them in the same way that water piles up ahead of a ship. Called bow shocks, these dramatic, arc-shaped features in space are leading researchers to uncover massive, so-called runaway stars.

“Some stars get the boot when their companion star explodes in a supernova, and others can get kicked ou...