Imagine an object moving at super-sonic speed. This object, as it moves through a medium, causes the material in the medium to pile up, compress, and heat up. The result is a type of shock wave, known as a bow shock.
Space Exploration
Mar 7, 2018
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As the energetic particles of the solar wind speed across interplanetary space, their motion is modified by objects in their path. A study, based on data from ESA's Mars Express orbiter, has thrown new light on a surprising ...
Space Exploration
Aug 22, 2017
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183
High above the surface, Earth's magnetic field constantly deflects incoming supersonic particles from the sun. These particles are disturbed in regions just outside of Earth's magnetic field - and some are reflected into ...
Space Exploration
Nov 14, 2016
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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 ...
General Physics
Oct 17, 2016
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NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft has entered the planet's magnetosphere, where the movement of particles in space is controlled by what's going on inside Jupiter.
Space Exploration
Jul 1, 2016
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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.
Astronomy
Jan 5, 2016
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A team of astrophysicists led by Dr Kalliopi Dasyra discovered fast winds of molecular and atomic gas that were caused by the interaction of the jet of a supermassive black hole with interstellar medium clouds in the nearby ...
Astronomy
Dec 2, 2015
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After a decade-long journey through space, the Rosetta spacecraft has spent the past year less than 100km from the nucleus of comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, capturing some stunningly detailed images. But despite this wealth ...
Space Exploration
Sep 25, 2015
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Aiming to study Earth's 'bow shock' in the solar wind, the constellation of Cluster satellites is being rejigged to bring two of the four to within almost touching distance.
Space Exploration
Jan 16, 2015
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(Phys.org) —The solar wind of particles streaming off the sun helps drive flows and swirls in space as complicated as any terrestrial weather pattern. Scientists have now spotted at planet Mercury, for the first time, a ...
Space Exploration
Jun 17, 2014
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