NASA begins mission to map the boundaries of our heliosphere
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A NASA probe has started its mission to map the heliosphere, which is a huge protective bubble around the solar system that was created by the sun, the space agency announced on Monday. In:
A NASA probe has started its mission to map the heliosphere, which is a huge protective bubble around the solar system that was created by the sun, the space agency announced on Monday.
The space agency's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, is expected to continue its mission for two years, using scientific instruments to chart the boundaries of the heliosphere and what's going on inside of it.
The probe is focusing on high-energy particles bursting from the surface of the sun, the magnetic fields that form in the spaces between planets, and the dust left behind by collapsed stars farther out in the galaxy.
"The spacecraft studies the Sun's activity and how the heliosphere's boundary interacts with the local galactic neighborhood beyond," NASA said.
The mission could help scientists answer fundamental questions about the universe. Scientists also hope it will help them understand what NASA says are "two of the most important overarching issues in heliophysics, namely the energization of charged particles from the Sun and the interaction of the solar wind at its boundary with interstellar space."
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