According to one longstanding theory, our Solar System's formation was triggered by a shock wave from an exploding supernova. The shock wave injected material from the exploding star into a neighboring cloud of dust and gas, ...
Space Exploration
Aug 3, 2017
2
292
Throughout the universe, supersonic shock waves propel cosmic rays and supernova particles to velocities near the speed of light. The most high-energy of these astrophysical shocks occur too far outside the solar system to ...
Plasma Physics
Jul 14, 2017
198
308
A multi-wavelength study of a pair of colliding galaxies has revealed the cause of a supermassive black hole's case of 'indigestion.' Results will be presented by Dr Hayden Rampadarath at the National Astronomy Meeting at ...
Astronomy
Jul 4, 2017
0
445
Combined observations from three spacecraft show that Jupiter's brightest auroral features recorded to date are powered by both the volcanic moon Io and interaction with the solar wind.
Space Exploration
May 25, 2017
18
152
If an asteroid struck Earth, which of its effects—scorching heat, flying debris, towering tsunamis—would claim the most lives? A new study has the answer: violent winds and shock waves are the most dangerous effects produced ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 19, 2017
0
240
It may soon be possible to detect the universe's first stars by looking for the blue colour they emit on explosion.
Astronomy
Mar 14, 2017
0
17
"We're made of star stuff," astronomer Carl Sagan famously said. Nuclear reactions that happened in ancient stars generated much of the material that makes up our bodies, our planet and our solar system. When stars explode ...
Astronomy
Jan 25, 2017
0
858
A team led by the University of Colorado Boulder has found the mechanism behind the sudden onset of a "natural thermostat" in Earth's upper atmosphere that dramatically cools the air after it has been heated by violent solar ...
Space Exploration
Dec 14, 2016
0
17
The sonic boom created by an airplane comes from the craft's large, speeding body crashing into molecules in the air. But if you shrank the plane to the size of a molecule, would it still generate a shock wave?
Space Exploration
Dec 13, 2016
0
12
In 1908 it was Tunguska event, a meteorite exploded in mid-air, flattening 770 square miles of forest. 39 years later in 1947, 70 tons of iron meteorites pummeled the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, leaving more than 30 craters. ...
Space Exploration
Dec 9, 2016
7
14
