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The Earth and its geocorone, as captured in 1972 with a camera operated by Apollo 16 astronauts on the Moon. Image: NASA
The Earth's atmosphere extends well beyond the Moon, much further than previously thought, according to a new study published in Space physics.
When the outermost parts of the atmosphere merge with outer space, a cloud of hydrogen atoms, called geocorone, is emitted. According to the authors of the study, led by Igor Baliukin of the Russian Space Research Institute, this layer of gas reaches 50 times the diameter of the planet.
This broadens the Earth's atmosphere by about 330,000 miles (more than six times) beyond what was previously estimated by the Southwest Research Institute and makes the Moon a point about half way path to the furthest part of the geocoria.
"The Moon is flying through the Earth's atmosphere," said Igor Baliukin, lead author of the document presenting the findings, in a press release from the European Space Agency (ESA).
The atmosphere of the Earth extends almost twice as far as the Moon. Image: ESA
The observations were captured by SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory), a satellite stationed about 930,000 miles from the Earth's surface, on the side of the planet facing the Sun. And they were carried out between 1996 and 1998, shortly after the launch of the satellite, while the satellite SOHO had a good point of view to capture an ultraviolet image of the Earth's atmosphere using sensors capable of mapping the satellite. géocorone.
"We were not aware until we eliminated observations made more than two decades ago," said Baliukin.
The researchers pointed out that the data collected several years ago could be used for new sciences. For example, they said the findings could have consequences for researchers looking for other planets with water tanks.
Planets that have hydrogen in their exospheres are more likely to have water on their surface. Scientists looking for exoplanets that may contain liquid water, the key ingredient of life as we know it, could look for hydrogen in the geocorone of a planet to deduce the presence of water . The Earth is an excellent model of comparison for this type of study.
Who knows? Maybe the hydrogen fumes will be the secret to finding a planet to inhabit if we need a new one.
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