If an explosive is detonated on the ground, the resulting shockwave and fireball typically appear hemispherical. However, during a November 2020 experiment at the Nevada National Security Site, researchers detonated a 14-sided device that resulted in a spiked fireball and pyramidal shockwave. “Shockwave collisions within the device resulted in focused high-temperature jets—fireballs—directed from the center of each face,” explains Steven Pemberton of Los Alamos National Laboratory, which led the experiment. “This led to the apparent asymmetry in the photo.”
