page_title: Shock diamond
hierarchical_section_title: Shock diamond
caption_attribution_description: English: A statically mounted Pratt &amp; Whitney J58 engine with full afterburner on disposing of the last of the SR-71 fuel prior to program termination. The bright areas seen in the exhaust are known as shock diamonds.
context_page_description: Shock diamonds are a formation of standing wave patterns that appear in the supersonic exhaust plume of an aerospace propulsion system, such as a supersonic jet engine, rocket, ramjet, or scramjet, when it is operated in an atmosphere. The "diamonds" are actually a complex flow field made visible by abrupt changes in local density and pressure as the exhaust passes through a series of standing shock waves and expansion fans. Mach diamonds are named after Ernst Mach, the physicist who first described them.
context_section_description: Shock diamonds (also known as Mach diamonds or thrust diamonds) are a formation of standing wave patterns that appear in the supersonic exhaust plume of an aerospace propulsion system, such as a supersonic jet engine, rocket, ramjet, or scramjet, when it is operated in an atmosphere. The "diamonds" are actually a complex flow field made visible by abrupt changes in local density and pressure as the exhaust passes through a series of standing shock waves and expansion fans.  Mach diamonds are named after Ernst Mach, the physicist who first described them.
caption: Shock diamonds are the bright areas seen in the exhaust of this statically mounted Pratt & Whitney J58 engine on full afterburner, burning off the last of the SR-71 fuel before the program ended.
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