Researchers have stunned science enthusiasts with news that could be even louder and more important than the “Big Bang.” They have inquired about a shock wave of gigantic magnitude. Read below what the research had to say and whether we should be concerned about this shock wave or not?
A team of researchers using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa has encountered a shock wave. Upon further investigation, it was calculated that the shock wave travels at a speed of 1500 km/s. The scientists stated that this shock wave was generated by a cluster of galaxies called Abell 3667 and that a total of 550 other galaxies were part of it. The Research for the same can be found published under the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), which played a vital role in identifying the shock wave.
What leads to the creation of shock waves?
There are infinitely many galaxies. Earth falls into the galaxy which is just one of the galaxies and is so massive that it would take 1,000,000 years to travel through it. Likewise, there is also such a thing as galaxy clusters, which are basically a collection of galaxies. When gravity comes into play, two galaxy clusters often have the chance to be pulled towards each other, causing a massive collision and generating fireworks-like patterns in space. These collisions are often regarded as one of the most powerful events in our universe. This is how shock waves are created.
Image source: SARAO