Niamh Harris – Scientists have discovered that the Earth’s atmosphere stretches much farther than previously thought and extends far beyond the Moon.

Using  data from over 20 years ago, a team of researchers measured just how far the outermost part of the atmosphere goes

The study was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics

RT reports: We now know that the atmosphere surrounding our planet stretches 630,000km (391,464 miles) away and is 50 times the diameter of Earth, thanks to the discovery and analysis of decades-old data by scientists at Russia’s Space Research Institute.

It means that the Moon is part of our atmosphere and not outside of it. In fact, it’s actually located right in the middle of our atmosphere, at an average distance of 384,400 kilometres (238,855 miles) from Earth. Continue reading →