Talk:Shock waves in astrophysics

The intro should define the word. This intro starts out with:

Shock waves are common in astrophysical environments.

That's like defining Trebuchet by saying "a Trebuchet is common on medieval battlefields". It doesn't say what a Trebuchet is. Can you put it in your pocket? Does it shade one from the sun? Carry wounded soldiers? Please don't write introductions like this.

I came to this article because I'm confused about astrophysical shock waves. Most shock waves on earth are waves in some medium : air, water, rock, water surface, etc. But, somehow, in space, which is supposed to be a vacuum, there's "shock waves".

Are these waves in the ultra-low-pressure gasses in space? Gravity waves? Are they avalanches of gasses that come from something like a supernova, into some place that would otherwise have nothing in it? Photons? Flows of solar wind, where earth is supposed to create a "bow shock"? Is it rains of solids, like dust or rocks? Mixtures of these? The examples suggest many of these, but I'd like a specific confession, like, "there's four kinds of shock waves in space: 1, 2, ..."

And, also, what do they all have in common? If they have nothing in common, we shouldn't use the same word. If they're gasses, what kind of pressures are they at, where a perfect vacuum is zero, a bicycle tire is 25psi (or whatever), ... What kind of momentum do they convey (newtons per square meter)?

OsamaBinLogin (talk) 03:51, 17 February 2025 (UTC)