Shockwaves, and the Beauty of Supersonic Flight

Schlieren photography has been used for decades to visualize shockwaves generated by supersonic aircraft - creating some iconic images of which my avatar is just one example - but usually it is used with scale models in windtunnels. Now NASA has captured the shockwaves from full-size aircraft flying supersonically, using ground-to-air schlieren photography. (www.aviationweek.com) Plus d'info...