Sun  Planets and Moons  ID: 3514

IBEX Orbit Visualization

Visualizations by Tom Bridgman Released on October 3, 2008

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).

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A movie tour showing the orbit of IBEX (green) around the Earth and its relationship to the Moon's orbit (grey).
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The movie opens with a view of the Earth with the Sun in the distance.
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The camera pulls out from the Earth, revealing the IBEX spacecraft (the small gold and grey hexagonal object on the left) and its orbit (green). The Moon is passing through the foreground.
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The camera pulls out further, to observe the full IBEX orbit.
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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.
 

Used Elsewhere In

11 Years Charting The Edge of The Solar System

Visualization Credits

Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Animator
Rani Gran (NASA/GSFC): Producer
Silvia Stoyanova (UMBC): Producer
Dave McComas (SwRI): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3514

Mission:
IBEX

Data Used:
SSCweb also referred to as: SSCweb ephemerides
Ephemeris - NASA/GSFC Space Physics Data Facility
Satellite ephemerides
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of these series:
IBEX Videos
IBEX Pre-launch

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Heliosphere
SVS >> Moon
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Solar Activity >> Cosmic Rays
SVS >> Hyperwall
SVS >> Heliopause
SVS >> IBEX
SVS >> Heliosheath
NASA Science >> Sun
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0