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Showing posts with the label Shockwave

Abell 3266 Astronomers discover a physics-defying shockwave in a distant galaxy

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Fossil remains of the black hole-eating frenzy of the past have been found deep within one of the largest galaxy clusters in our sky. Astronomers also saw physics-defying plasma shockwaves, and loops of radio energy within the same galaxy cluster. Key points: Astronomers have discovered a trio of rare objects in a distant galaxy cluster known as Abell 3266 One of the mysterious objects is a shockwave relic dubbed the “wrong way”. The objects were discovered using radio telescopes in Western Australia and New South Wales The cluster – Abell 3266 – is located 800 million light-years away and spans the sky 300 million light-years in the southern constellation Reticulum. An international team of astronomers, led by Christopher Riseley of the University of Bologna in Italy, studied the cluster in detail using the powerful Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder radio telescope in outback Western Australia, and the smaller Australia Telescope Compact Array in Narrabri, New South Wales.

The Incredible Shockwave Of Stars Repels Space At 100,000 Miles Per Hour

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Zeta Oviucci once orbited close to another star, before its companion was destroyed in a supernova explosion. Infrared data from Spitzer revealed shockwaves made of material that exploded from the star’s surface and collided with gas on its way. Chandra’s data show X-ray emission bubbles located around the star, generated by gas heated to tens of millions of degrees by the shock wave. Chandra’s data helps tell more about the story of this wild star. credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. Cambridge / c. Cesc Raines et al; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA; Optics: PanSTARRS Zeta Ophiuchi is the only star that may ever have a companion destroyed during a supernova. The supernova explosion sent zeta Ophiuchi into space as seen in the Spitzer data (in green and red) and Chandra (in blue). The X-rays that Chandra discovered came from heating the gas to millions of degrees by the shockwave effect. Scientists are working to match the computational model of this object to interpret the data obtained at diffe