[meteorite-list] Alien Interstellar Material Discovered

[dorifry]

Blown by the interstellar wind:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46209853/ns/technology_and_science-space/

NASA probe discovers 'alien' matter outside solar system
Interstellar material spotted by IBEX from orbit 200,000 miles above Earth

For the very first time, a NASA spacecraft has detected matter from outside 
our solar system - material that came from elsewhere in the galaxy, 
researchers announced Tuesday.

This so-called interstellar material was spotted by NASA's Interstellar 
Boundary Explorer (IBEX), a spacecraft that is studying the edge of the 
solar system from its orbit about 200,000 miles above Earth.

"This alien interstellar material is really the stuff that stars and planets 
and people are made of - it's really important to be measuring it," David 
McComas, IBEX principal investigator and assistant vice president of the 
Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute in 
San Antonio, said in a news briefing today from NASA Headquarters in 
Washington, D.C.

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An international team of scientists presented new findings from IBEX, which 
included the first detection of alien particles of hydrogen, oxygen and 
neon, in addition to the confirmation of previously detected helium. [ 
Images from NASA's IBEX Mission ]

These atoms are remnants of older stars that have ended their lives in 
violent explosions, called supernovas, which dispersed the elements 
throughout the galaxy. As interstellar wind blows these charged and neutral 
particles through the Milky Way, the IBEX probe is able to create a census 
of the elements that are present.

Heavy elements in space
According to the new study, the researchers found 74 oxygen atoms for every 
20 neon atoms in the interstellar wind. For comparison, there are 111 oxygen 
atoms for every 20 neon atoms in our solar system, meaning there are more 
oxygen atoms in any part of the solar system than in nearby interstellar 
space, the scientists said in a statement.

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"These are important elements to know quantitatively because they are the 
building blocks of stars, planets, people," McComas said. "We discovered 
this puzzle: matter outside our solar system doesn't look like material 
inside our solar system. It seems to be deficient in oxygen compared to 
neon."

The presence of less oxygen within interstellar material could indicate that 
the sun formed in a region with less oxygen compared to its current 
location, the researchers said.

Or, it could be a sign that oxygen is "locked up" in other galactic 
materials, such as cosmic grains of dust or ice. [ Top 10 Strangest Things 
in Space ]

"That leaves us with a puzzle for now: could it be that some of that oxygen, 
which is so crucial for life on Earth, is locked up in the cosmic dust?" 
asked Eberhard Möbius, a professor at the University of New Hampshire and a 
visiting professor at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. "Or, 
does it tell us how different our neighborhood is compared to the sun's 
birthplace?"

IBEX also measured the interstellar wind traveling at a slower speed and 
from a different direction than was previously thought. The research now 
shows that the interstellar wind exerts 20 percent less pressure on our 
heliosphere, which is a protective bubble that shields our solar system from 
powerful, damaging cosmic rays.

"Measuring the pressure on our heliosphere from the material in the galaxy 
and from the magnetic fields out there will help determine the size and 
shape of our solar system as it travels through the galaxy," Eric Christian, 
IBEX mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, 
Md., said in a statement.

A history of the universe
The results of the new study will also help scientists shed light on the 
history of the material in the universe.

"It tells us things about the part of space that we live in, and the 
interaction with that part of space with the rest of the galaxy," McComas 
said.

The observations from IBEX and the ability to determine the ratio of 
elements in space could help scientists understand how the galaxy has 
evolved and changed over time.

"I find it really exciting that right on our front doorstep, we can take a 
sample of this interstellar matter around us," Möbius said. "If you think 
back all the way to the Big Bang, there was only hydrogen and helium. Then 
stars and supernovas sprinkled it with heavy elements - if you imagine that 
we are made out of the material that has been belched out of the supernovas, 
and it is continuing. So, 4.5 billion years ago, the sun formed out of the 
solar nebula, and now we are sampling part of the Milky Way as it is today. 
It gives us nice data points - Big Bang and the sun's formation to what is 
our environment. Then modelers can go and trace how that material has 
evolved over time in the cosmos."

The findings are detailed in a series of papers that were published today in 
the Astrophysical Journal.

NASA launched the IBEX mission in October 2008 to map the boundary between 
the solar system and interstellar space. The $169 million spacecraft was 
originally built for a two-year mission.



IBEX measures and counts particles called energetic neutral atoms, which are 
created in an area of our solar system known as the interstellar boundary 
region. Since its launch, the spacecraft has already made groundbreaking 
discoveries about the heliosphere and the boundary between our solar system 
and interstellar space.
In 2009, IBEX detected a mysterious ribbon on the edge of the solar system 
made up of a stream of charged particles that travels a million miles per 
hour from the sun. In 2010, researchers announced that IBEX had witnessed 
the first-ever look at solar wind crashing into Earth's magnetosphere.

You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter at denisechow. 
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Phil Whitmer

Joshua Tree Earth & Space Museum