Labels:text | screenshot | font | number OCR: EXPLOSIVE WAVES THE SHOCK WAVES resulting from a supernova explosion travel through the interstellar medium at speeds of thousands of kilometers per second. These shock waves disturb interstellar material and may trigger the process of gravitational collapse that eventually causes stars to begin forming inside interstellar clouds. No supernova has been detected in our galaxy since the invention of the telescope. If one were to occur, it could be as bright in the sky as the Moon for several months. If it were too close to the Earth, it could blow away the Earth's atmosphere.
