(CNN) NASA has captured groundbreaking images of shockwaves from supersonic aircraft, the space agency said, as part of efforts to create a jet that flies faster than the speed of sound without producing sonic boom.

Using newly upgraded air-to-air photographic technology that took 10 years to develop, NASA's ethereal images show for the first time the interaction of shockwaves from two supersonic planes in flight.

The images depict two T-38 supersonic jets from the US Air Force during a test flight from the research center at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

"What's interesting is, if you look at the rear T-38, you see these shocks kind of interact in a curve," Neal Smith, a research engineer at NASA, said. "This is because the trailing T-38 is flying in the wake of the leading aircraft, so the shocks are going to be shaped differently. This data is really going to help us advance our understanding of how these shocks interact."

Shockwaves produced by supersonic aircraft are responsible for creating supersonic booms when they merge as they travel through the atmosphere, which has led to restrictions on breaking the sound barrier over land. The ability to fly supersonic without a sonic boom may one day result in lifting current restrictions on supersonic flight over land.

Read More