NASA Finds Interstellar Matter From Beyond Our Solar System

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NASA Finds Interstellar Matter From Beyond Our Solar System

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday January 31, 2012 @11:32PM from the we're-made-of-star-stuff dept.

An anonymous reader writes "For the very first time, a NASA spacecraft has detected matter from outside our solar system — material that came from elsewhere in the galaxy. 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 (322,000 kilometers) 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,' said David McComas, IBEX principal investigator."

25 of 75 comments (clear)

Same atoms by Lord+Lode · 2012-01-31 23:35 · Score: 4, Interesting

What makes this material different from that of our solar system? It's got the same kind of atoms. And why do they say *that* material is what we're made from? As far as I'm aware, we're made from the material of *our* solar system, not that of another.
1. Re:Same atoms by SJHillman · 2012-01-31 23:40 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I think the idea is that most of the atoms we're made up of originate from before our solar system was formed. During the creation of our solar system, the matter was compressed, condensed, ignited or otherwise changed from how it existed as an interstellar gas and so doesn't exist in the same way anymore. It's not so much that we're interested in the individual atoms as we are in the collection of the interstellar material.
2. Re:Same atoms by DaPhil · 2012-01-31 23:54 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  It seems the point is that "matter outside our solar system [...] seems to be deficient in oxygen compared to neon." (from TFA). The newly found matter seems to be distributed differently: 74 oxygen atoms for every 20 neon atoms compared to 111 oxygen atoms for every 20 neon atoms within the solar system. I still don't understand the "material what we're mad from" part...
3. Re:Same atoms by dkf · 2012-02-01 00:34 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  You know you're dealing with something from outside the solar system because within the solar system, the solar wind (hot, fast-moving plasma) blows all diffuse material out very rapidly. If there's a large amount of material out at the edge of where we believe the boundary to be between the domain dominated by solar wind and the domain dominated by the rest of the galaxy, and that material has a composition not seen within the solar system, we can have as a very strong guess that its extra-solar. Anything else really is much less probable.
  Which isn't to say that it is of the same composition as the gas+dust cloud that formed the solar system. That's long gone and the solar system has moved a lot since then.
  
  --
  "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
4. Re:Same atoms by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-01 00:35 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I believe the "interesting" part is measuring the composition of the material, that is, the ratio between the different elements and if there are any interesting molecules there, like 'organic' chemicals. Of course, it doesn't mean all other interstellar stuff has the same composition, it's just interesting to compare this specimen to other solar-system based chunks.
5. Re:Same atoms by gmrath · 2012-02-01 00:52 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  How does this spacecraft find "interstellar matter from beyond our solar system" at a distance of 200,000 miles above the Earth while the Voyagers have found what at how many billions of miles from the sun? Differences in instrumentation? Wouldn't one expect any remaining interstellar matter to be cleared by the solar wind long ago given the range of 200 kMiles? Just asking.
6. Re:Same atoms by JATMON · 2012-02-01 01:04 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I still don't understand the "material what we're mad from" part...
  It has been a while since I took astronomy so I am sure that I will get some corrections, but I will give it a shot.
  
  Right after the big bang, the universe was mostly made of of just hydorgen and helinm. Most of the rest of the elements are produced by stars. During its life and depending on how big the star is, the fusion process in the star can produce elements up to iron (I think). When the larger stars (I think it is about 10 times the size of our sun and greater) die, they go supernova. This explosive process produces the heavier elements and also dstributes them back out into the universe and in time they become the stars and planets in other solar systems like ours. So we are made from the remnents of dead stars.
  
  Let the corrections begin :)
7. Re:Same atoms by mbone · 2012-02-01 01:07 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  There are heavy elements that the Sun doesn't contain.
  Not really, except for the short-lived heavy radionuclides. Even Uranium has been seen in solar spectra.
8. Re:Same atoms by hairyfeet · 2012-02-01 01:14 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Shouldn't you be able to find that material in abundance in the comets that go whizzing by as well as the great Oort cloud? Don't get me wrong, i'm really digging the "Small hard science missions" that NASA is focusing on I'm just trying to understand what makes THIS particular matter all that different from the stuff trapped all around us that didn't get sucked into any planetary formation.
  But if any NASA guys are here just let me say a big thumbs up, don't let the clueless try to drag you back into shooting meatbags into LEO, frankly you are giving us more hard science about how the universe works in a single one of these probes than in all the LEO missions the shuttle ever did. So keep sending the probes and if congress tries to screw you be sure to send a heads up to all the geek sites, we'll back you up. This is good work you are doing, and all the data your many probes are sending back will expand our knowledge of the solar system for decades. i know you guys don't hear this enough anymore since probes aren't sexy, but thanks for all the hard work and hard science you are giving us.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
9. Re:Same atoms by jamvger · 2012-02-01 02:56 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  The entire solar system condensed from the same rotating, swirling cloud. So the ratios of the elements are pretty consistent throughout. There do exist some differentiating processes, e.g. heavy atoms sink to the interior of planets, but the starting ratios for all parts of the cloud were the same.
  
  The incoming stream seen by IBEX has a O/Ne ratio falling significantly outside of the range expected for gasses of solar system origin.
  
  --
  The glass is half glass.
10. Re:Same atoms by jamstar7 · 2012-02-01 05:17 · Score: 2
  
  Actually, no. Getting to some of those 'ridiculously easier to obtain' resources isn't as easy as you think.
  
  The Earth's crust is mostly iron. You'd think then iron was easy to come by. It's all bound up in different chemical compounds that are hard to work with, expensive to refine, and polluting as all hell to deal with. Regions like the Mesabi Range in Minnesota have iron that's almost pure, relatively easier to work with. The problem is, places like the Mesabi Range are fairly rare.
  
  Meteoric evidence suggests asteroidal iron to be even purer, and a lot easier to work with.
  
  --
  Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
11. Re:Same atoms by geekoid · 2012-02-01 06:25 · Score: 2
  
  It was a Carl Sagan reference.
  Watch cosmos.
  
  --
  The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
SJHillman ( above ) makes an interesting point... by vikingpower · 2012-01-31 23:46 · Score: 2

...besides there being the possibility of molecules, in that stuff, we do not ( yet ) know. This stuff may, indeed, be more important than cynics deign to think.

--
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
Oh boy! Star Stuff! by stevegee58 · 2012-01-31 23:55 · Score: 3, Funny

Carl Sagan would be so happy!
Re:Its alien ... by WillerZ · 2012-02-01 00:23 · Score: 4, Funny

No need to shoot it. I have a Mac: I'll upload a virus to take care of it.

--
I guess today is a passable day to die.
Re:I detect matter outside the Solar Sys all the t by piripiri · 2012-02-01 00:34 · Score: 2

How could it be interstellar? You know, "inter" as in "between"...
Re:Looks like a job for Captain Obvious... by jimmetry · 2012-02-01 00:47 · Score: 2

Detected, not postulated.
Not "first time", misleading linked article by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-01 00:54 · Score: 2, Informative

This is not the first time matter from outside the solar system is sampled. Here's what NASA said in the press release:
"...Previous spacecraft have already provided some information about the way the galactic wind interacts with the heliosheath. Ulysses, for one, observed incoming helium as it traveled past Jupiter and measured it traveling at 59,000 miles per hour. IBEX's new information, however, shows the galactic wind traveling not only at a slower speed -- around 52,000 miles per hour -- but from a different direction, most likely offset by some four degrees from previous measurements. Such a difference may not initially seem significant, but it amounts to a full 20% difference in how much pressure the galactic wind exerts on the heliosphere."
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ibex/news/interstellar-difference.html
Press Release Mania by mbone · 2012-02-01 01:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

Where to start. First, go out at night - all those little dots in the sky ? They're called stars, and are all outside our solar system. (This has been known, depending on your point of view, for at least 400 years, and probably for 2 or more millennia.)
Second, it is pretty common for meteorites contain little inclusions of interstellar matter - organic matter, silica, and even (really tiny) diamonds. And, while we are at it, a certain fraction of the micro-meteors observed with radar (to get their orbits) turn out to be interstellar as well. (The fraction of interstellar micro-meteors suggests that there may be a few kg-sized interstellar meteorites waiting to be picked up out of the thousands in the Antarctic meteorite fields, which would be something.)
So, this is nice research, but it is only the first in its area, and it was silly of them to say "for the very first time."
Re:I detect matter outside the Solar Sys all the t by Moraelin · 2012-02-01 01:07 · Score: 2

How could it be interstellar? You know, "inter" as in "between"...
Yes, it's between the Sun and some stars even farther back :p

--
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Redundant by necro81 · 2012-02-01 01:37 · Score: 2

NASA Finds Interstellar Matter From Beyond Our Solar System
If it is from beyond our solar system, it is, by definition, interstellar.
1. Re:Redundant by Fned · 2012-02-01 06:18 · Score: 2
  
  Nevertheless: all interstellar matter is from beyond our solar system.
  Except, fairly soon, for the Voyager spacecraft.
Cosmic Rays by crunchygranola · 2012-02-01 01:58 · Score: 2

High energy cosmic rays originate outside of the solar system, which has been known for many decades. Some of them are even intergalactic - having energies so high that the galactic magnetic field of the Milky Way cannot trap them.

--
Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
Re:Nonsense by geekoid · 2012-02-01 06:32 · Score: 2

I wish your joke was nearly as bonkers as some poeple are seriously trying to do.
Did you know there is a group trying to get geocentrism taught in schools?
Seriously, they even have a ridiculousn model, and of course a rewrite of known physics, to support their belief.
If people don't like science, they shouldn't be allowed to participate in the discussion.

--
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Re:Important by geekoid · 2012-02-01 06:35 · Score: 3

You want a living wage and health insurance? then support science. All the tech jobs, every electron you command, ever ounce of fuel you consume, exists because of science.
So it's really important to do all kinds of science.

--
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect