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ScootysDad t1_iws6mwh wrote

Reply to comment by Chemomechanics in What happens to air when it escapes into outer space? by CentralOregonKush

Remember the hydrogen and helium atoms I mentioned above? These wispery clouds extend up to 400,000 miles into space, gravitationally locked to the earth and formed the geocrorona.

So, yes, no human has ever left the confine of earth's atmosphere.

The actual scientific paper was published in 2019 in the Journal Geophysical Research: Space Physics by Baliukin, Quemerais, & Schmidt.

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Chemomechanics t1_iwsa5w7 wrote

Thank you for this reference. The introductory section clarifies: the exophere isn't a cloud or wisp or confine but the region where gas collisions essentially no longer occur—the lower limit of rarefication. Any molecule that happens to have—or ends up having—a speed greater than escape velocity leaves for the void in a ballistic trajectory.

I don't think many would consider this an atmosphere in colloquial terms, but it is undoubtedly associated with our atmosphere (although arguably beyond its meaningful edge), so I appreciate your point: Humans haven't traveled very far from Earth.

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ScootysDad t1_iwsip6m wrote

Scientific definitions have to be precise and we must be ready to give up on our long cherised notions. Except for Pluto. I'm still Team Pluto. Those astronomers...what do they know. :-)

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