Latest News
 |
|
NASA’s IBEX satellite reveals our solar system’s structure.
Image credit: NASA
|
[Satellite TODAY 07-11-13] NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite has for the first time mapped out the structure of our solar system. IBEX findings reveal that similar to a comet, the solar system has a “tail” called heliotail.
While telescopes have spotted such tails around other stars, it had been difficult to see whether our star produced one. The particles found in the tail and throughout the entire heliosphere (the region of space influenced by our sun) do not shine, so they cannot be seen with conventional instruments.
"By examining the neutral atoms, IBEX has made the first observations of the heliotail," said David McComas, IBEX principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
By combining observations from the first three years of IBEX imagery, the team showed a tail with a combination of fast and slow moving particles. There are two lobes of slower particles on the sides and faster particles above and below. This four-leaf clover shape can be attributed to the fact that the sun has been sending out fast solar wind near its poles and slower wind near its equator for the last few years. This is a common pattern in the most recent phase of the sun’s 11-year activity cycle.
Scientists do not know how long the tail is, but believe that it eventually fades away and becomes indistinguishable from the rest of interstellar space.
Get the latest Via Satellite news!
Subscribe Now