Want to go deeper? NASA, Carruthers Geocorona Observatory has the full story and the latest updates.
For Further InformationThe first mission dedicated to Earth's exosphere, Carruthers watches our planet's ultraviolet halo from about a million miles sunward.
Image: NASA/KSC.
To chart changes in the exosphere, the transition from Earth's environment to space.
Source: NASA, Carruthers
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NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory launched on September 24, 2025 and studies the geocorona, the ultraviolet glow of Earth's exosphere, our planet's outermost atmospheric layer. It is the first mission dedicated to charting changes in this region, which is hard to observe from the ground. It is named after Dr. George R. Carruthers, whose telescope took the first images of the geocorona from the Moon on Apollo 16 in 1972.
Source: NASA, Carruthers Geocorona Observatory
The exosphere is where Earth's environment meets space; learning how it responds to space weather completes the picture of our shields.
For Further Information: NASA, Carruthers Geocorona Observatory
Earth wears a faint ultraviolet halo, the geocorona, first photographed from the Moon by Apollo 16 in 1972; NASA's Carruthers mission now charts it from a million miles away.
Want to go deeper? NASA, Carruthers Geocorona Observatory has the full story and the latest updates.
For Further InformationNASA doesn't take donations, but anyone can join one of its citizen science projects.