We present a detailed analysis of >24 keV ion data obtained from the ISEE 2 satellite on an inbound crossing of the magnetopause at 1130 LT on November 8, 1977, from 0200 to 0330 UT. Based on the technique presented by Williams (1979) of sounding the position of the magnetopause using energetic particle azimuthal asymmetries, we exploit the four second time resolution available on the ISEE 2 satellite to determine the location, structure, orientation, and temporal variation of the magnetopause region. We find that the trapping boundary for energetic ions is sharp and well defined for ~35 keV ions and that it corresponds most of the time to the time to earthward edge of the plasma boundary layer. Usually magnetosheath plasma penetrated the trapping boundary only up to distances approximately that of the plasma (1 keV) ion gyroradius (~100 km). On some occasions magnetosheath-like plasma was observed up to 800 km inside the trapping boundary but these occurrences were usually associated with rapid trapping boundary movement with velocities exceeding 50 km/s. If the trapping boundary determines the position of the last closed field line, the occasional occurrence of magnetosheath plasma deep inside the trapping boundary is inconsistent with accepted merging theories. The determination of the position of the trapping boundary using five separate ion energy channels from 24 to 70 keV was internally consistent for the lowest three channels although the higher energy channels consistently indicated somewhat smaller values. Radial motion was present affecting the position of the trapping boundary on two scales; a wave-like oscillation with a period of ~105 s superimposed on a larger scale irregular 'breathing' motion. We argue that the wave nature of the trapping boundary was the cause of the slight difference between the higher and lower energy ion trapping boundary locations.