IBEX Orbit Visualization

Animation Abstract:

The Interstellar Boundary EXplorer (IBEX) mission will observe the boundary between the heliosphere and the interstellar medium from a location near the Earth. The mission will measure the flux of hydrogen Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) which can be directed towards the Sun by an interaction with the heliosheath.

In this visualization, we see the orbit of the spacecraft orbit (green) in relation to the Earth, the orbit of the Moon (gray), and Sun.

For more information, visit the IBEX Mission Project Page at Southwest Research Institute which is managing the mission. We also have additional video outlining the mission (link).

Annotation: The camera moves above the Moon's orbital plane to look down on the relationship of the orbit of IBEX to the orbit of the Moon.

Credit for this image should go to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Available formats:

2560 x 1440	TIFF	4 MB
320 x 180	JPEG	32 KB

For more information and similar images click here.

For different animations on the same 'IBEX Videos' topic click here.

For different animations on the same 'IBEX Pre-launch' topic click here.