NASA's IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) spacecraft has made the first all-sky map of the heliosphere and the results have taken researchers by surprise. The map is bisected by a bright, winding ribbon of unknown origin which runs perpendicular to the direction of the galactic magnetic field just outside the heliosphere. The ribbon is not a source of light but rather a soruce of particles -- energetic neutral atoms or ENAs. IBEX's sensors can detect these particles, which are produced in the outer heliosphere where the solar wind begins to slow down and mix with interstellar matter from outside the solar system. Eric Christian, IBEX deputy mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center notes: "This ribbon winds between the two Voyager spacecraft and was not observed by either of them ... It's like having two weather stations but missing the big storm that runs between them." IBEX principal investigator Dave McComas oc the Southwest Research Institute adds: We're missing some fundamental aspect of interaction between the heliosphere and the rest of the galaxy. Theorists are working like crazy to figure this out."
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Link to story at www.SpaceWeather.com or just Google 'Giant Ribbon Discovered at the Edge of the Solar System 10.15.2009' for the NASA writeup.

Yes well the solar system was gift wrapped and we're just waiting for someone with a big enough pair of scissors to start the opening ceremony.

Thanks for the news Acitnoids.

There are two reasons why this is interesting to me. 1) It show that we can not rely on the data from one or two probes to infer all there is to know about our solar system. 2) This is a case in point where we would use an unknown observation to widen the understanding of our surroundings. Correct me if I'm wrong but this data is showing a band of energetic neutral atoms being detected along a region of space where the suns magnetic field intersects perpendicularly to the galaxies magnetic field. Does this mean that the positively charged atomic nuclei from the solar wind will pick up electrons at a higher rate along this ribbon or is it that a greater quantity of interstellar neutral atoms are entering the heliosphere along this ribbon?

This link ( www.ibex.swri.edu/ ) gives the most comprehensive description of this new observation.

Very interesting Acitnoids. Just goes to show how much we still don't really understand imo.

Yeah I heard about it on the radio, it sounds cool are there any images of it?

Is it anything like this?

Dare I say; could this be a reason for the Pioneer anomalies?

No.

I was wondering where my giant ribbon had gotten to

I would wonder if Cosmic Plasmas could explain this phenomenon

not sure how though just a thought

ScaryMonster,
Every all-sky map can be found at the IBEX link above along with links to their published work and yes, it does look a lot like the pic you provided.

CommonSense Seeker,
Hehehe. I would have been surprized if you hadn't mentioned that.

John Connellan,
Now that's what I call a ribbon. That would look good on a new car or a naked woman. Better yet, switch those two around.

Thinking,
Cosmic plasma is a state of matter in which atoms and molecules are so hot that they separate into negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions (basically the same stuff as the solar wind). What IBEX has observed is energetic neutral atoms moving towards the Earth from the heliosphere. The idea that this has something to do with stellar jets has crossed my mind or maybe the solar wind is being "held in place" (think particle accelerator) until a cosmic ray knocks an atom toward the Earth. But what of its' fine structure? Thankfully there's no need for speculation because the IBEX satellite will make a new all-sky map every six months! All we have to do is wait and see what time will tell us.

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392299main_D...ata512x288.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392551main_E...agersSmall.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392292main_J...opauseVis1.mpg

Its still enticingly cryptic is it dust? Or some sort of charged particles?

ScaryMonster,
I couldn't open your .mpg links from my phone and the computer at work has no audio.
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I think the lack of detail comes from a lack of knowledge. The people that study this region of space created a few models to predict what IBEX should have observed. Not only were they wrong but they were off by a mile. Traditionally speaking, everything they thought they knew about the interaction between the heliosphere, galactic medium and solar wind can now be thrown into question. In their defense they based their predictions on the data collected from the Voyager spacecraft, as both of them traveled through the heliosphere. Up until this point those two spacecraft were the only other source of data from this region. Fortunatly they have a new instrument (IBEX) that can continually monitor said interaction. Frankly it's kind of hard to give any specifics when nobody really knows what they're looking at.