PLANETARY UPPER ATMOSPHERES

Earth and most planets in our solar system are surrounded by permanent atmospheres. Their outermost layers, the thermospheres, ionospheres and exospheres, are regions which couple the atmospheres to space, the Sun and solar wind. Furthermore, most planets possess a magnetosphere, which extends into space considerably further than the atmosphere, but through magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling processes closely interacts with it. Auroral emissions, found on Earth and other planets, are manifestations of this coupling and a mapping of distant regions in the magnetosphere into the upper atmosphere along magnetic field lines. This article compares planetary upper atmospheres in our solar system and attempts to explain their differences via fundamental properties such as atmospheric gas composition, magnetosphere structure and distance from Sun. Understanding the space environment of Earth and its coupling to the Sun, and attempting to predict its behaviour (“Space Weather”) plays an important practical role in protecting satellites, upon which many aspects of todays civilisation rely. By comparing our own space environment to that of other planets we gain a deeper understanding of its physical processes and uniqueness. Increasingly, we apply our knowledge also to atmospheres of extrasolar system planets, which will help assessing the possibility of life elsewhere in the Universe.