The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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The intensity of hydrogen atom emission in the outermost part of Earth’s atmosphere, the geocorona, as measured by the SWAN instrument on board the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO. Low intensity is indicated in blue, high intensity in red.
The data revealed that the geocorona extends well beyond the orbit of the Moon, reaching up to 630 000 km above Earth’s surface, or 50 times the diameter of our planet. Earth is located at the centre of the white area, too small to be visible at this scale; the extent of the Moon’s orbit around Earth is indicated as a dotted ellipse for reference.
More information: Earth’s atmosphere stretches out to the Moon – and beyond