Zeta Ophiuchi has had an interesting life. It began as a typical large star about twenty times more massive than the Sun. It spent its days happily orbiting a large companion star until its companion exploded as a supernova about a million years ago. The explosion ejected Zeta Ophiuchi, so now it is speeding away through interstellar space.
Zeta Ophiuchi is most famous for beautiful images such as the one above. By plowing through interstellar gas, the star has created heated shock waves that glow in everything from infrared to x-rays. The physics of these shock waves is tremendously complex. It is governed by a set of mathematical equations known as magnetohydrodynamics, which describes the behavior of fluid gases and their surrounding magnetic fields.
In this latest study, the team created computer models simulating the shock wave near Zeta Ophiuchi. They then compared these models to observations in infrared, visible, and x-rays. Their goal is to determine which simulations are the most accurate so that the models can be further refined. Of their three models, two of them predicted that the brightest region of x-ray emissions should be at the edge of the shock wave closest to the star, and this is what we observe.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: PhillyInquirer - 🏆 81. / 68 Read more »
Source: fox5ny - 🏆 587. / 51 Read more »
Source: IntEngineering - 🏆 287. / 63 Read more »
Source: EatThisNotThat - 🏆 294. / 63 Read more »
Source: cleantechnica - 🏆 565. / 51 Read more »
Source: SFGate - 🏆 534. / 51 Read more »