We present two energetic neutral atom (ENA) images in the energy range 26--37 keV from the ENA imager on board the Swedish microsatellite Astrid-1. The images are taken 24 hours apart from below the ring current at 0300 magnetic local time (MLT) around the equator at 1000 km altitude and show a narrow region of ENA emissions extending along the field lines in the postmidnight region. A parameterized model of the ring current is used to extract the ion distribution. The extracted ion distribution is 25¿ wide in longitude within L = 4 - 6 with an almost isotropic pitch angle distribution (PAD). One ENA image from a polar vantage point shows that the loss cones of the PAD are partially filled. The z component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) was +2 and -3 nT at the times of the two observations. For IMF Bz = -3 nT the ENA flux is stronger than that for the observation when IMF Bz = +2 nT. We use a kinetic ring current model to show that the morphology of the extracted ion distribution can be explained by a narrow flow channel from the plasma sheet at L = 10 and 0200--0300 MLT to L = 5 and 0100--0200 MLT for 26 keV protons. In order to match the absolute flux of the extracted ion distribution with the results from the kinetic model, the plasma sheet density at L = 10 had to be set to 10 cm-3. This value is unreasonably high, and we discuss some scenarios that may justify a more reasonable value. During the previous 5 days the Dst had been between -50 and -15 nT, and the interplanetary magnetic field Bz had been fluctuating between -10 and +10 nT.