1/29/2012 11:34 AM ET
(RTTNews) - At a briefing to be held on Tuesday, January 31, scientists are expected to announce new observations from outside our solar system, obtained after analyzing data gathered by NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft.
The researchers are also expected to discuss new observations about the interstellar boundary region - the region between our solar system and interstellar space. This interstellar boundary region shields our solar system from most of the dangerous galactic cosmic radiation that otherwise would enter the solar system from interstellar space, according to the space agency.
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft, which is a small satellite about the size of a bus tire, was launched in October 2008 to map the boundary of the solar system. The original lifetime of IBEX mission was 2 years, but is expected to continue its observations through at least 2012.
So far, interesting discoveries have been made by the IBEX mission. In 2009, the IBEX spacecraft discovered a giant ribbon at the edge of the solar system, which scientists now believe is a reflection. The ribbon is where solar wind particles heading out into interstellar space are reflected back into the solar system by a galactic magnetic field, according to Jacob Heerikhuisen, a NASA Heliophysics Guest Investigator from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
In 2010, the IBEX spacecraft imaged a collision zone far beyond the planets - the region where a supersonic "wind" of charged particles from the Sun crashes head-on into the protective magnetic bubble that surrounds our planet.
The briefing will take place at NASA Headquarters in Washington at 1 p.m. EST.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com