You’re looking at a space shockwave traveling 1000 faster than sound

You're looking at a space shockwave traveling 1000 faster than sound

The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reports on the discovery of a "reverse shock wave racing inward at Mach 1000" in the Tycho’s supernova remnant, making its particles glow as you can see in the photograph above. If you think the idea of a shockwave traveling inward is counterintuitive, you aren’t alone. This is what’s happening:

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Why Is There a Goddess’ Egg Floating In Space? [Space]

This image reminds me of an ovum—a female egg. But it’s not inside anything on Earth. It’s floating in the vastness of space about 9,000 light years from here, in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It’s the Tycho supernova remnant. More »