Ribbon of neutral particles from edge of solar system could be solar blowback
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029613
Motherboard : In 2008 NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) discovered an unexpected ribbon of energetic neutral atoms streaming through the solar system after being generated in the solar system’s heliosheath. Now Eric Zirnstein of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, and his colleagues believe they have an explanation for the creation of the ribbon. Using IBEX data, the scientists ran simulations that suggest that as protons in the solar wind pass through the heliopause, they gain electrons, then lose and gain them again in the turbulent region where the solar wind interacts with the interstellar medium. If the protons regain the electrons at just the right time, they are bounced back into the solar system as neutral atoms in a narrow stream that IBEX can detect.
