NASA IBEX to see edge of Solar System

William Atkins
Thursday, 02 October 2008 21:54

Science - Space

The instruments aboard IBEX that will take these images of the edge of the Solar System include the IBEX-Hi and IBEX-Lo, two energetic neutral atom (ENA) imagers (particle detectors)—they, basically image and record particles (ions) in space, with IBEX-Hi detecting particles with higher energies and IBEX-Lo detecting those particles with lower energies.

The spacecraft also includes a Combined Electronics Unit (CEU) that controls the voltages of a collimator on each ENA imagers, along with reading and recording the data from the particle detectors from each imager.

Basically, a collimator narrows the beam of particles or waves, so that all of the beams are going in the same general direction.

The IBEX mission is named after the ibex, several species of wild mountain goat that have large re-curved horns, with rings and ridges, on the males. They are found in North and East Africa, and Eurasia.

The IBEX logo for the mission includes a drawing of an ibex. The curve of the ibex horns is similar to the shape of the heliopause, the edge of the Solar System’s heliosphere, or the “bubble” that contains all of the material ejected from the Sun.

The heliopause is considered the edge of the Solar System, where the solar system (its particles) meet with interstellar space (and its particles).

Additional information about the IBEX mission is found on the NASA Solar System Exploration website IBEX.

The Southwest Research Institute’s website for IBEX also contains interesting information on the mission.