File picture shows shows an ultraviolet image of the sun in
something approaching "true color". NASA on Sunday launched a
probe into space on a two-year mission to study the distant edge
of the solar system. (AFP/NASA/File/Michael Benson) From Yahoo
News/AP: WASHINGTON (AFP) – NASA on Sunday launched a probe into
orbit high above earth to study the distant edge of the solar
system where hot solar winds crash into the cold outer space.
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) was launched at 1745
GMT, according to images broadcast live by the US space agency.
The small probe was deployed on a Pegasus rocket which dropped
from the bay doors of a Lockheed L-1011 jet flying at 12,000
meters (40,000 feet) over the southern Pacific Ocean near the
Marshall Islands. "The count went really smooth... and
everything appears to be going well," NASA assistant launch
manager Omar Baez said shortly after the launch. The IBEX is on
a two-year mission to take pictures and chart the mysterious
confines of the solar system --