gas cloud tagged posts

Previously accelerated by black holes, the particles are reaccelerated by shock waves resulting from the collision. The phenomenon helps scientists understand the structure of the universe on the largest scale (images: researcher’s archive)

A cosmic phenomenon on a colossal scale, resulting from the acceleration of a gas cloud by a black hole and its reacceleration by the shock waves from the merging of two galaxy clusters, has been observed. “The electrons that make up the cloud initially bounce off the supermassive black hole at the center of one of the galaxies and accelerate as a result. They are then reaccelerated by shock waves that propagate in the galaxy cluster when it collides with another cluster,” Andrade-Santos told.

Galaxy clusters grow through the gravitational accretion of...

These images show the central plane of a rotating disk orbiting a newly formed protostar (dark dot) formed in a three-dimensional model of the shock-triggered collapse of a molecular cloud of gas and dust. Density is shown on the left, while the x velocity plot on the right shows how the shock (outer edge) has injected fingers with motions that are responsible for producing the spin of the disk around the central protostar. Image is provided courtesy of Alan Boss.

New details about the trigger that may have started the earliest phases of planet formation in our solar system. For decades, it’s been hypothesized that our Solar System’s genesis was initiated by a shock wave from a supernova...