WASHINGTON — New research from ESA and NASA show the real size of Earth's geocorona. <br /><br />New observations from a study by the European Space Agency and NASA show that Earth's geocorona, an atmospheric layer made of hydrogen atoms, reaches up to 630,000 kilometers or 391,000 miles away. <br /><br />That is the equivalent of 50 times the Earth's diameter and double the distance to the Moon.<br /><br />According to the paper published in AGU's Journal of Geophysical Research, the team made these observations using an instrument mounted on a satellite called the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO.<br /><br />The SOHO orbits some 1.5 million kilometers from Earth towards the Sun and mainly studies Earth's interactions with the Sun. <br /><br />It is equipped with a remote tool called Solar Wind Anisotropies, or SWAN. The SWAN is capable of detecting hydrogen signatures in the outer layer of Earth's atmosphere by using an absorption cell.<br /><br />These new findings could help researchers look for watery planets with similar atmospheres outside of our solar system.<br /><br />When you think of it, this means astronauts and spacecraft that have traveled to the Moon technically never left the Earth's atmosphere. Pretty neat, right?
