<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has revealed some very alien material outside our solar system. \n\"We've directly measured four separate types of atoms from interstellar space and the composition just doesn't match up with what we see in the solar system,\" says Eric Christian, mission scientist for IBEX at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. \"IBEX's observations shed a whole new light on the mysterious zone where the solar system ends and interstellar space begins.\"\nScientists found that more oxygen exists in the solar system than in the local interstellar space, according to NASA. In the galactic wind, for every 20 neon atoms, 74 oxygen atoms exist \u2014 compared to within our solar system, there are 111 oxygen atoms for every 20 neon atoms. \n\nSEE ALSO: Far Side of the Moon Captured on Video for the First Time\nThese findings can tell us a little more about how our solar system formed. \"Either the solar system evolved in a separate, more oxygen-rich part of the galaxy than where we currently reside, or a great deal of critical, life-giving oxygen lies trapped in interstellar dust grains or ices, unable to move freely throughout space,\" says David McComas the principal investigator for IBEX at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.\nOther IBEX findings also can help scientists learn the history of material in the universe. \nCheck out the video above to learn more. \nThumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, loops7\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/02/02/ibex-interstellar-material/>