IBEX Skymaps and the Bright Stars

  • Released Thursday, September 30, 2010
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In this image set, the brighter stars from the Tycho skymap have been reprojected into positions corresponding to the coordinate system used by the IBEX mission.

The colors represent the number of neutral atoms (in the specified band of energies) detected by IBEX in each block of sky. Each block in the map is roughly a square about 6 degrees by 6 degrees (or the width of 12 full Moons, on a side). For the energy band displayed of 2.73 keV, violet corresponds to undetectable emission, while red corresponds to the detection of about 50 atoms per second per square centimeter in the angular segment of the sky. There is a 'hole' in the data (black) created when the IBEX scan cuts through the Earth's magnetotail.

The images in this set have been co-registered for easy compositing.

Combined IBEX skymap for 2.73 keV neutral atom energy band. This is composited with the labelled background starfield.

Combined IBEX skymap for 2.73 keV neutral atom energy band. This is composited with the labelled background starfield.

First and second IBEX skymaps combined in Hammer projection for 2.73 keV neutral atom energy band.

First and second IBEX skymaps combined in Hammer projection for 2.73 keV neutral atom energy band.

First IBEX skymap in Hammer projection for 2.73 keV neutral atom energy band.

First IBEX skymap in Hammer projection for 2.73 keV neutral atom energy band.

Second IBEX skymap in Hammer projection for 2.73 keV neutral atom energy band.

Second IBEX skymap in Hammer projection for 2.73 keV neutral atom energy band.

Bright stars in IBEX projection.

Bright stars in IBEX projection.

Bright stars and labels in IBEX projection.

Bright stars and labels in IBEX projection.

Color Bar

Color Bar

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Thursday, September 30, 2010.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:54 PM EDT.

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