The Cherenkov effect was a visual effect produced by high amounts of hard radiation, taking the appearance of a blue-colored flame. The effect could be triggered by the use of explosives such as fusion or anti-matter bombs, and the radiation it accompanied was potentially deadly.
During the Galactic Civil War, Princess Leia Organa observed the Cherenkov effect in the ruined city of K'avor on Shiva IV, deducing the cause to have been an anti-matter bomb.