Spacecraft obtains new view of our galaxy

NASA said the map was made possible by data collected by its Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft known as IBEX. Officials said the map will change the way researchers view and study the interaction between our galaxy and sun.

"The sky map was produced with data that two detectors on the spacecraft collected during six months of observations," NASA said. "The detectors measured and counted particles scientists refer to as energetic neutral atoms (that) are created in an area of our solar system known as the interstellar boundary region.

"This region is where charged particles from the sun, called the solar wind, flow outward far beyond the orbits of the planets and collide with material between stars," NASA scientists said, noting the atoms travel inward toward the sun from interstellar space at velocities ranging to more than 2.4 million mph.

"For the first time, we're sticking our heads out of the sun's atmosphere and beginning to really understand our place in the galaxy," said David McComas of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, the OBEX project's principal investigator.

NASA released the sky map image (available at http://www.nasa.gov/ibex) in conjunction with publication of the findings in the journal Science.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.