the.com/bow shock
the universe's version of a boat's wake, except the boat is a star and the water is space.
means a curved shockwave formed where a moving object's magnetic field or wind slams into surrounding gas faster than that gas can get out of the way.
from named for the wave a ship's bow pushes ahead of it through water; astronomers borrowed the term when they saw the same crescent shape carved by stars plowing through interstellar gas.
earth has onesolar wind piles up against our magnetosphere daily
speed requirementonly forms when flow is faster than local wave speed
hubble favoritezeta ophiuchi's bow shock is a famous glowing arc
scale rangehappens from spacecraft to entire galaxies