A latest study used Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) data and simulations of the interstellar boundary present at the very edge of the big magnetic bubble around our solar system known as the heliosphere to describe space in our galactic neighborhood in a better way.

Published on February 8, 2016, in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the paper has accurately determined the strength and direction of the magnetic field beyond the heliosphere. The information has given scientists a peek into the magnetic forces ruling the galaxy beyond, teaching them more regarding their home in space.

The latest paper is based on a specific theory of the origin of the IBEX ribbon, wherein the particles streaming in from the ribbon were in reality solar material reflected back at us post a long trip to the edges of the magnetic boundaries of the sun.

A big bubble, called the heliosphere, is present around the sun and is packed with what is known as solar wind, the sun’s steady outflow of ionized gas, called plasma. Once these particles reach the heliosphere’s edges, their motion becomes more complex.

The simulation indicates the origin of ribbon particles of distinct energies or speeds beyond the heliopause. The particles of IBEX ribbon come in contact with the interstellar magnetic field, and move inwards toward Earth, and as a whole gives an impression of a ribbon spread around the sky.

Study lead author, Eric Zirnstein, a space scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, said that the theory suggested that some solar wind protons are sent flying back in the direction of the sun in the form of neutral atoms once a complex series of charge exchanges, forming the IBEX ribbon.