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The layers are to scale. From the Earth's surface to the top of the stratosphere (50km) is just under 1% of Earth's radius. The exosphere is a thin, atmosphere-like volume surrounding a planet or natural satellite where molecules are gravitationally bound to that body, but where the density is so low that the molecules are essentially collision ...
As a lower boundary for the exosphere this boundary is also called the exobase. [ 1 ] The exact altitude varies by the energy inputs of location, time of day, solar flux, season, etc. and can be between 500 and 1,000 kilometres (310 and 620 mi) high at a given place and time because of these.
Outer space (or simply space) is the expanse that exists beyond Earth's atmosphere and between celestial bodies. [1] It contains ultra-low levels of particle densities , constituting a near-perfect vacuum [ 2 ] of predominantly hydrogen and helium plasma , permeated by electromagnetic radiation , cosmic rays , neutrinos , magnetic fields and dust .
The mesosphere of Venus extends from 65 km to 120 km in height, and the thermosphere begins at approximately 120 km, eventually reaching the upper limit of the atmosphere (exosphere) at about 220 to 350 km. [28] The exosphere begins when the atmosphere becomes so thin that the average number of collisions per air molecule is less than one.
Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. [1] This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres: the biosphere , hydrosphere / cryosphere , atmosphere , and geosphere (or lithosphere ).
An ionospheric model is a mathematical description of the ionosphere as a function of location, altitude, day of year, phase of the sunspot cycle and geomagnetic activity. Geophysically, the state of the ionospheric plasma may be described by four parameters: electron density, electron and ion temperature and, since several species of ions are ...
One classical thermal escape mechanism is Jeans escape, [1] named after British astronomer Sir James Jeans, who first described this process of atmospheric loss. [2] In a quantity of gas, the average velocity of any one molecule is measured by the gas's temperature, but the velocities of individual molecules change as they collide with one another, gaining and losing kinetic energy.
This includes the effects of the solar wind, especially on the Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere. [1] Though physically distinct, space weather is analogous to the terrestrial weather of Earth's atmosphere (troposphere and stratosphere). The term "space weather" was first used in the 1950s and popularized in the ...