<p>This image presents a color-coded full-sky neutral atom map, as seen by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBEX" class="extiw" title="en:IBEX">IBEX</a>, in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_projection" class="extiw" title="en:Hammer projection">Hammer projection</a>. This map is different from earlier IBEX maps in that it shows atoms only at energies where the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/interstellar_wind" class="extiw" title="en:interstellar wind">interstellar wind</a> is the brightest feature in the maps.
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In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth" class="extiw" title="en:Earth">Earth</a>'s orbit, where IBEX makes its observations, the maximum flow (in red) is seen to arrive from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libra_(constellation)" class="extiw" title="en:Libra (constellation)">Libra</a> instead of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpius" class="extiw" title="en:Scorpius">Scorpio</a> because the interstellar wind is forced to curve around the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun" class="extiw" title="en:Sun">Sun</a> by gravity.
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio and the University of New Hampshire
2012-01-12
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?3900">http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?3900</a>