First-Ever All-Sky Map of the Interactions Occurring at the Edge of the Solar System (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

First-Ever All-Sky Map of the Interactions Occurring at the Edge of the Solar System

Caption

In 2009, NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission science team constructed the first-ever all-sky map of the interactions occurring at the edge of the solar system, where the sun's influence diminishes and interacts with the interstellar medium. A 2013 paper provides a new explanation for a giant ribbon of energetic neutral atoms -- shown here in light green and blue -- streaming in from that boundary.

Credit

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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