Computational Science Image

This radiative hydrodynamic simulation shows the interior of a Mach 15 hypersonic shock wave in the interstellar medium which is cooling from 600,000K to 10,000K, and breaking into filaments. Energy loss (cooling) increases as the temperature drops, and is strongest just before the gas reaches 10,000¼K and stops cooling (goes black). This reverse cooling, which is stronger as you get colder, is known as a thermal instability, and causes the complex structure that you can see. The mathematical equation in the background is the Euler equation, which describes the conservation of mass, momentum and energy and which were solved numerically to obtain these results. Computations were done at the ANU Supercomputing Facility, by Dr Ralph Sutherland, Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. IlLUSTRATION (c) Denise Sutherland, Sutherland Studios 2006 www.sutherland-studios.com.au