Earth's atmosphere stretches out to the moon – and beyond

The gaseous layer that wraps around Earth reaches up to 630,000 kilometers away, or 50 times the diameter of our planet, according to a new study based on observations by the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO, ...

Swarm of microprobes to head for Jupiter

A swarm of tiny probes each with a different sensor could be fired into the clouds of Jupiter and grab data as they fall before burning up in the gas giant planet's atmosphere. The probes would last an estimated 15 minutes ...

Venturing into the upper atmosphere of Venus

As the end of its eight-year adventure at Venus edges ever closer, ESA scientists have been taking a calculated risk with the Venus Express spacecraft in order to carry out unique observations of the planet's rarefied outer ...

Researchers study the sun's coronal rain in great detail

(Phys.org) —Just like on Earth, the Sun has spells of bad weather, with high winds and showers of rain. But unlike the all-too-frequent storms of the UK and Ireland, rain on the Sun is made of electrically charged gas (plasma) ...

Big solar blowouts hold clue to space weather

(Phys.org) —Solar jets are ejections from the surface of the Sun, where 1-10 tonnes of hot material are expelled at speeds of up to 1000 kilometres per second. Using space based observatories like Hinode and STEREO, solar ...

SUNRISE offers new insight on sun's atmosphere

Three months after the flight of the solar observatory Sunrise – carried aloft by a NASA scientific balloon in early June 2013—scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany have presented ...

How high is space?

Look up, there's space. Astronomically speaking, it's right there, just outside a thin layer of atmosphere. But how far away is it? How high is space?

Sun's loops are displaying an optical illusion

(Phys.org) —The Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, has posed an enduring mystery. Why is it so hot? The Sun's visible surface is only 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, but as you move outward the temperature shoots up to millions ...

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