ESO on Nostr: 1/2 Astronomers surprised by mysterious shock wave around dead star 😲 As it moves ...

1/2 Astronomers surprised by mysterious shock wave around dead star 😲

As it moves and interacts with the interstellar gas, a white dwarf observed by our VLT creates a type of shock wave called a bow shock — a curved arc of material, similar to the wave that builds up in front of a ship.

None of the known mechanisms can fully explain the observations.

https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2601/

📷 ESO/K. Ilkiewicz and S. Scaringi et al.

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science