Spacecraft reveals new observations of interstellar matter

February 2, 2012—Researchers this week presented new data from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), which directly sampled material carried from outside our solar system across the galaxy by solar and stellar winds. The NASA space probe uses a pair of special cameras, one of which was developed to a large degree at LANL, to sample neutral atoms reaching Earth’s surroundings from the edges of the solar system and its immediate neighborhood. Full details of the research comprise a six-paper special section in the February edition of Astrophysical Journal Supplements.

“Interstellar particles are the raw stuff that form stars, planets, and even us,” said Eberhard Moebius, a University of New Hampshire professor and IBEX team member currently on sabbatical at Los Alamos. UNH developed key systems of IBEX’s second camera. “In the beginning there was only hydrogen and helium. These two elements formed the first stars. When those stars collapsed and died, they spewed their material, including new elements created through the process of nuclear fusion, out into space. We can tell a lot about the evolution of our universe and perhaps gain insight into other galaxies and planetary systems by analyzing these particles.”

Among the spacecraft's latest findings:

• The interstellar wind blows about 7,000 miles an hour slower than previously mesaured.
• The ratio of neon to oxygen in material emanating from outside our solar system is larger than the ratio from within our solar system and also the Milky Way—our home galaxy—as a whole. The ratio difference may suggest that the Sun’s present location differs from its birthplace, or that a significant amount of oxygen might be bound up in grains of dust floating in interstellar space.
• The heliosphere, the protective bubble of solar wind surrounding Earth, may expand significantly in the future as our solar system moves out of a cloud of galactic material.

“How wonderful it is to see that some of the same technologies developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory for keeping our nation safe are being used to understand how Earth keeps itself safe from the turbulent forces of the universe and to gain a better understanding of our place in the galaxy,” said Los Alamos’s Herb Funsten, part of the original research team responsible for development of one of IBEX’s cameras.

More information about IBEX's latest findings can be seen in the LANL news release. Information about the IBEX mission can be found on NASA's official IBEX site.