These awesome pics are what happens when a runaway star slams into a cloud of space dust.
How fast is a star?
Though the stars in the sky seem pretty fixed, they're actually all moving relative to each other. You just can't tell because they're so far away. Even the constellations are only temporary — in another 50,000 years, they may look very different!
No two stars are moving the exact same way, either. Some move at very different speeds, which means that while some stars are like this:
GIF from ExperimentalUTubeChannel/YouTube.
Others are like this:
GIF from "Star Wars."
Or something like that, anyway. They're not jumping to light speed, but they are pretty dang fast.
How do you track down a super-fast star?
That's what William Chick and his team of astronomers at the University of Wyoming wanted to do.
"We are using the bow shocks to find massive and/or runaway stars," said Henry Kobulnicky, another astronomer from the University of Wyoming.
Wait. Bow shock? What the heck is a bow shock?
As the stars zoom through space, material shoots out of them, creating a kind of solar wind. This wind hits any dust or gas in the star's way, causing it to pile up in front of the star. It's kind of like how a boat makes water bunch up in front of it.
Yeah, like that. Image from AlfvanBeem/Wikimedia Commons.
On a boat, it's a bow wave. On a star or a bullet or a plane, it's bow shock.
Eventually, the bow shocks' big, chaotic pileup heats up the gas and dust in front of the star and causes it to glow. Most of the light is infrared, which means it's invisible to the naked eye. But if you have an infrared telescope, you can spot the bow shocks. Some of them are a bit hard to see:
Image from NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Wyoming.
But some of them are just ... wow.
Image from NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA.
That star, called Zeta Ophiuchi, is hurtling across the galaxy at 54,000 mph and is gigantic — 20 times as massive as our sun. It's the Rebel Without a Cause of stars — living fast, dying young. It'll speed across the galaxy for about another 4 million years before exploding in a gigantic supernova like some sort of cosmic firework.
What made these stars so fast in the first place?
"Some stars get the boot when their companion star explodes in a supernova," said Chick. That's what they think happened to Zeta Ophiuchi up there. Others get slingshotted out of star clusters.
Our own sun isn't moving quite as fast as Zeta Ophiuchi; it's in the slow and steady camp. As for exactly how fast, it depends on what you're measuring it against, but Stanford University puts the sun's speed at a more stately 45,000 mph. We're not sure if our sun has a bow shock.
To find these stars, Chick and his team used data from a pair of powerful telescopes located in outer space, the Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Other researchers are also looking at bow shocks to try to learn how these massive, fast stars live and die. Learning more about them could help us understand more about our own solar system and how the universe works.
Want one more picture? OK, just one more.
Bow shock around LL Orionis. Image from Hubble Heritage/Flickr.
Yeah.
GIF from wolfwaffles.com
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An actual beaver dam on the now-thriving Price River
Not just coworkers—family, friends, strangers, kids… 
Imagine having to go so badly but being out of euros. 
Anything hobbit-esque can't be wrong. 
But what if you need pain meds AND mascara?!
Imagine how this would affect childcare.
Honestly…where's the lie? 
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Urgent dash to the bathroom! 🚪🏃♂️
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."