“Bow Shock” is a 2006 science fiction novelette by Gregory Benford. It is about an astronomer who discovers a very strange object on the other side of the galaxy.
Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:
Ralph is your average university research scientist. He spends his time teaching, advising graduate students, attending conferences and trying to publish original articles. It is that last one that is starting to weigh on his mind – and the mind of his department chairman – as Ralph nears tenure at U.C. Irvine. And just as he discovers a very strange object in the night sky his story is scooped by another scientist – except that other scientist seems to have missed a very important detail and Ralph is determined to find out what it means!
Few astronomers had expected to find so many runaway neutron stars.
Their likely origin began with two young, big stars, born circling one another. One went supernova, leaving a neutron star still in orbit. Later, its companion went off, too, spitting the older neutron star out, free into interstellar space.
My Two Cents:
• The good:
- I quite enjoyed all the discussion about astronomical objects. I love astronomy so reading about pulsars, neutron stars and quasars was a blast!
- Like many other stories, the end justified the means – and was pretty cool too.
• The bad:
- While I liked "Bow Shock" and the subjects discussed in it, I realize that not everyone will. It is a slow paced, jargon intensive, story about scientific research. If that doesn’t sound interesting to you then maybe you should read something else.
Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 28
• Word Count: 12,934
• “Bow Shock” garnered the following awards:
- It placed 21st in the 2007 Locus poll for best novelette.
Where you can find “Bow Shock”:
- This novelette first appeared in the June 2006 issue of Jim Baen’s Universe.
- “Bow Shock” is included in The Best of Jim Baen’s Universe
.
- You can read a free online version of this story at webscription.net.
Some Interesting Links:
- Did you know that Gregory Benford really is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine? Yep. You can learn more about this prolific science fiction author at his web site.
Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like Collapse, about an astronomer who believes the universe has begun to contract., by Michael Burstein.
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