NASA's IBEX Finds Cosmic Roadmap at Solar System's Edge

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) first discovered a mysterious energy ribbon at the edge of the solar system back in 2009, but it wasn't discovered until this week that it appears to serve as a "roadmap in the sky" for the interstellar magnetic field.

After years of ground-based studies and in-space observations, scientists have established a clearer connection between the high-energy cosmic rays and our sun. It turns out that the sun might be protecting our solar system from these rays. In face, researchers believe that more information about this energy ribbon could give scientists answers about the boundary between our solar system and interstellar space.

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft provided the only source of information prior to IBEX that scientists could use to deduce answers from this boundary. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1's mission was to "extend the NASA exploration of the solar system beyond the neighborhood of the outer planets to the outer limits of the Sun's sphere of influence, and possibly beyond," as stated on the NASA website. In 2012, Voyager 1 reached interstellar space and as of this past September, it was recorded at 18.7 billion kilometers from the sun. It is now in search of the heliopause, which is the outer extent of the Sun's magnetic field and solar wind.

Despite accurate and one-of-a-kind information provided by Voyager 1, it differs from the information provided by the IBEX. They both show a different direction of the magnetic field from the location of the energy ribbon at the edge of the solar system. There are a few reasons that this may have occurred: there have been reconnection between the magnetic field lines; Voyager 1 and IBEX retrieve information at different times and places; or the physics to determine such concrete answers has yet to be understood.

Whatever the answer might be, NASA's IBEX has made a big follow-up on its 2009 discovery and Voyager 1 may still provide measurements that can help scientists figure out more answers. Until then, visit this FOX News article and read the research that was published in Science Express.