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launched on October 19th 2008 the

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interstellar boundary Explorer or ibex

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spacecraft is unique in NASA's

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heliophysics fleet ibex looks at the

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very edge of the sun's reach starting at

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about 8 billion miles away the region

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begins with the termination shock and

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ends with the heliopause between those

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two is the heliosheath a teardrop shaped

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region sculpted by the pressure of the

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interstellar medium highbacks is also

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different because it makes its images

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from particles instead of light over the

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course of six months and many orbits

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i've xscape icture of the entire sky in

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energetic neutral atoms or enas for

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short during its first five years i've

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ex has made some astounding discoveries

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the ibex mission science team has used

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data from the spacecraft to construct

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the first-ever all-sky map of the

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interactions occurring at the edge of

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the solar system where the sun's

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influence diminishes and interacts with

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the interstellar medium the most

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startling finding as a result of this

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map is a bright ribbon of energetic

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neutral atoms emanating toward the Sun

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from the edge of the solar system new

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data from NASA's interstellar boundary

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Explorer reveal that conditions at the

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edge of our solar system may be much

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more dynamic than previously thought

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this second set of all sky maps show the

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evolution of the interstellar boundary

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region the mysterious ribbon feature at

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the nose of the heliosphere has changed

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shape and a not like feature has formed

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this variation over time is forcing

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scientists to try to understand how the

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heliosphere can be changing so rapidly

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because ibex is orbiting earth it also

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can observe the creation of energetic

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neutral atoms along the nose of Earth's

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magnetosphere enas are created there as

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solar wind protons take electrons from

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hydrogen atoms in the outermost vestiges

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of our atmosphere known as the exosphere

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ibex has also scanned another nearby

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world with surprising results the moon

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has no atmosphere or magnetosphere so

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the solar wind slams unimpeded into its

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surface about 10% of the impinging solar

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wind protons bounce off the lunar

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surface becoming enas as they do ibex

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has now made the first direct

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measurements of hydrogen oxygen and neon

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from outside the solar system the

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measurement of these atoms has enabled

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scientists to get a better grasp on the

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environment around our solar system the

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speed of the Galactic wind registered

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around 52,000 miles per hour

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heavy interstellar atoms show a

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difference from the solar system and

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galaxies as a whole this puzzle may mean

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that the Sun has moved out of the region

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where it formed or that some of the

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oxygen has been captured by dust in

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interstellar space new measurements by

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ibex have suggested that there is no bow

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shock to the heliosphere the previous

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understanding of the boundary of the

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heliosphere was that outside the

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influence of the Sun a shock wave was

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formed by the entire heliosphere pushing

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through the interstellar material around

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ibex recently mapped the boundaries of

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the solar system's tail called the helio

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tail if we could look straight down the

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tail we will see a shape a little like

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before leaf clover the two side leaves

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are filled with slow moving particles

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and the upper and lower leaves with fast

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ones the entire shape is rotated

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slightly this indicates that as it moves

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farther away from the sun's magnetic

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influence the charged particles have

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begun to be pulled into a new

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orientation aligning with the magnetic

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field of the local galaxy recent

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measurements of the interstellar wind by

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ibex have shown that its direction is

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changed by about 7 degrees in only the

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last 40 years while the cause of this

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shift is unknown it may be telling us

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something about the changing conditions

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as we move through the Milky Way

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as ibex continues to scan the edge of