William Atkins
Friday, 16 October 2009 20:34
Science -
Space
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The IBEX mission is to image the boundary between the solar system and interstellar space: that is, the edge of the heliosphere. And, while on this mission to map energetic neutral atom emissions, the spacecraft imaged a bright filament.
In the October 15, 2009 NASA media release “
Giant Ribbon Discovered at the Edge of the Solar System,” it is stated,
“Although the ribbon looks bright in the IBEX map, it does not glow in any conventional sense. The ribbon is not a source of light, but rather a source of particles--energetic neutral atoms or ENAs.”
Learn more about ENAs at the Southwest Research Institute’s website “
What are energetic neutral atoms?”.
These ENAs are created when the solar wind begins to hit particles in interstellar space, that is the space outside of our solar system.
Go to the NASA website “
IBEX NASA Science Update Visuals” to see numerous images and animations produced by the U.S. space agency.
Eric Christian, the IBEX deputy mission scientist, talks about the positioning of the ribbon with respect to two veterans of space travel.
Dr. Christian states,
"This ribbon winds between the two Voyager spacecraft and was not observed by either of them. It's like having two weather stations, but missing the big storm that runs between them." [NASA]
Christian is referring to Voyager 1 and 2. Check out the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory article “
Voyager: The Interstellar Mission” for more information.
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