Carruthers Geocorona Animation
The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a SmallSat mission at Lagrange Point 1 (L1) where it will use an advanced ultraviolet imager to monitor Earth’s exosphere — the outermost layer of the atmosphere — and the exosphere’s response to solar-driven space weather. Carruthers is poised to become the first SmallSat to operate at L1 and the first to deliver continuous exospheric observations from this vantage point.
In this animation, atomic hydrogen floats in Earth’s exosphere. As the lightest chemical in existence, atomic hydrogen tends to float away, or evaporate, off the top of Earth’s atmosphere. When the Sun shines on these atoms, they scatter that light in all directions, causing a glow around Earth. This fuzzy halo of light that’s given off by those exospheric atoms is called the geocorona.
Earth's geocorona animation.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
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Animator
- Wes D. Buchanan (eMITS)
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Technical support
- Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
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Producers
- Beth Anthony (eMITS)
- Lacey Young (eMITS)
Used as a Source In
- ID: 14887
![Produced VideoWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.Music Credit: "Time in Motion” by Rick Hearson [PRS], “Proud Patterns by Paul Joseph Smith [PRS] from Universal Production Music](/vis/a010000/a014800/a014887/14887_Thumbnail.jpg)
Produced Video - ID: 14893
![Music credit: “Emergence” by Aaron Albert Srdoc [BMI] via Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.](/vis/a010000/a014800/a014893/IMAPSWFOCarruthersTrailer_Thumbnail.jpg)
Release date
This page was originally published on Friday, August 1, 2025.
This page was last updated on Friday, August 1, 2025 at 1:24 PM EDT.