NASA's new mission is snapping photos of Earth's exosphere
NASA launched the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Sept. 24, 2025 on a two-year journey to study Earth's exosphere—the super-thin, outer edge of our atmosphere.
After reaching its spot a million miles from home in January, it's now snapping images of the hydrogen "glow" around our planet every 20 minutes.
The geocorona is a thin layer of hydrogen
This is the first time a small satellite at the Sun-Earth L1 point will give us nonstop views of the exosphere.
The observatory uses two ultraviolet cameras to map its size and shape, helping scientists understand how space weather—like solar storms—can mess with satellites and tech we rely on.
The mission will help scientists understand the geocorona better
The mission is led by Lara Waldrop from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with teams from UC Berkeley, Utah State, BAE Systems, and NASA Goddard all pitching in.
Before this mission, scientists only had a handful of images of the geocorona—now they'll get thousands.