Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In 1972, Apollo 16 astronauts placed an ultraviolet camera on the Moon that captured the first images of Earth’s geocorona, the light emitted by Earth’s outermost atmospheric layer. A new NASA mission bearing the name of the telescope’s creator, Dr. George R. Carruthers, will launch into space to build on that legacy. From a vantage point roughly one million miles closer to the Sun than Earth is, the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will capture the most comprehensive views of the geocorona to date. The observations will reveal new insights into the structure of our atmosphere, how solar eruptions impact Earth, and how a planet’s surface water can escape to space, aiding the search for habitable planets elsewhere in the universe.
Learn more about Carruthers Geocorona Observatory science: science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/new-nasa-mission-to-reveal-earths-invisible-halo
Learn more about the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory: science.nasa.gov/mission/carruthers-geocorona-observatory
Music credit: "Time in Motion” by Rick Hearson [PRS], “Proud Patterns by Paul Joseph Smith [PRS] from Universal Production Music
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Producers/Editors: Beth Anthony (eMITS), Lacey Young (eMITS)
Animators: Jonathan North (eMITS), Wes Buchanan (eMITS)
Talent: Alex Glocer (NASA), Lara Waldrop (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14887. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14887. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/.
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: youtube.com/NASAGoddard
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
· Instagram: instagram.com/nasagoddard
· X: x.com/NASAGoddard
· Facebook: facebook.com/NASAGoddard
· Flickr: flickr.com/photos/gsfc
In 1972, Apollo 16 astronauts placed an ultraviolet camera on the Moon that captured the first images of Earth’s geocorona, the light emitted by Earth’s outermost atmospheric layer. A new NASA mission bearing the name of the telescope’s creator, Dr. George R. Carruthers, will launch into space to build on that legacy. From a vantage point roughly one million miles closer to the Sun than Earth is, the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will capture the most comprehensive views of the geocorona to date. The observations will reveal new insights into the structure of our atmosphere, how solar eruptions impact Earth, and how a planet’s surface water can escape to space, aiding the search for habitable planets elsewhere in the universe.
Learn more about Carruthers Geocorona Observatory science: science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/new-nasa-mission-to-reveal-earths-invisible-halo
Learn more about the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory: science.nasa.gov/mission/carruthers-geocorona-observatory
Music credit: "Time in Motion” by Rick Hearson [PRS], “Proud Patterns by Paul Joseph Smith [PRS] from Universal Production Music
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Producers/Editors: Beth Anthony (eMITS), Lacey Young (eMITS)
Animators: Jonathan North (eMITS), Wes Buchanan (eMITS)
Talent: Alex Glocer (NASA), Lara Waldrop (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14887. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14887. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/.
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: youtube.com/NASAGoddard
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
· Instagram: instagram.com/nasagoddard
· X: x.com/NASAGoddard
· Facebook: facebook.com/NASAGoddard
· Flickr: flickr.com/photos/gsfc
