Definition
Generally, an accretion shock is a shock wave occurring at the surface of a compact object or dense region that is accreting matter supersonically from its environment. In the context of astrobiology, an accretion shock is normally understood to mean the shock wave present at the surface of the protosolar nebula, or the corresponding nebula surrounding a protostar, as it accretes interstellar matter from the surrounding molecular cloud.
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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Charnley, S. (2011). Accretion Shock. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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