News Cosmology

Astronomers spotted shock waves shaking the web of the universe for the first time

The observation could offer an indirect look at large-scale magnetic fields in the universe

A simulation image of filaments and clusters shown in blue lines and pink dots.

In this simulation of the cosmic web, shock waves along filaments and around clusters emit radio light (pink) as they ripple through magnetic fields (cyan).

F. Vazza, D. Wittor and J. West

By Elise Cutts

For the first time, astronomers have caught a glimpse of shock waves rippling along strands of the cosmic web — the enormous tangle of galaxies, gas and dark matter that fills the observable universe.