@nasaames

This may come as a shock. We use a 21st century version of Schlieren imagery, which was invented in 1864, to visualize the shockwaves and vortices of a supersonic airplane in flight. This composite image includes cut-out images of T-38 aircraft around Mach 1.02 taken in December of 2018. To capture the flow dynamics, a slow-moving observer airplane equipped with high-speed digital cameras records the distortion caused by the shockwaves of the supersonic aircraft as they pass. Image credit: NASA Learn more: https://go.nasa.gov/3wcX0q5 #NASA #AmesResearchCenter #Schlieren #Supersonic #flight #NASAArmstrong #Aeronautics #Aviation #AeroAugust