NASA Just Captured the First-Ever Photos of Merging Supersonic Shock Waves

By Yasemin Saplakoglu, Staff Writer | March 7, 2019 12:50pm ET

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NASA captures first-ever photo of two supersonic shockwaves interacting.
Credit: NASA Photo

Two U.S. Air Force craft were traveling so fast — quicker than the speed of sound — and so close together that the shock waves emanating from the craft began to merge… and NASA was there to capture photographic proof.

The resulting snapshots are the first-ever photos of two supersonic shock waves (pressure waves) interacting in the air. And it's quite a sight: It looks as though the atmosphere folded up into a fresh batch of laundry. [Supersonic! The 10 Fastest Military Airplanes]

As an aircraft travels, it pushes the air in front of it and creates waves, just like a motor boat creates waves as it moves through the water.

But when aircraft travel faster than the speed of sound — or faster than 767 mph (1235 km/h) — it moves faster than the waves it creates. Because air molecules can't keep up with its speed, they begin to compress. This creates a rapid increase in pressure in front of the craft, resulting in a different kind of wave: supersonic shock wave. Though humans can't see these shock waves, we can hear them merging together as they move through the atmosphere as a thunder-like sound called a sonic boom.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/64941-merging-supersonic-shockwaves-photo.html