How thick is the atmosphere in meters?

Answer 1

The Earth and Mars are the third and fourth planets in our solar system. Both objects are moving in their elliptical orbits around the Sun, so the distance between them is constantly moving. When they are closest together, they are about 0.3 AU apart, and when farthest apart they are about 2.4 AU apart.

There's a freeware and open source astronomy program called Stellarium which can calculate the distance between any two objects. As of 7:07AM PST on 12/18/2012, the distance was 2.19422 AU, and increasing.

Answer 2

The point at which earth ends and space begins is arbitrary. In the 1950s Theodore Von Karman proposed the round number of 100 kilometers and it was accepted. So, by definition, space begins at 100 kilometers or 100,000 meters.

Answer 3

The word "meteorite" means a meteor which has fallen to Earth. So all meteorites are on the Earth, at a distance of 93 million miles from the Sun.

Meteoroids, which have not collided with the Earth, may be at any distance from the Sun.

Answer 4

Zero. You're standing in it now, and it's everywhere all around you. If you want to leave the earth's atmosphere, you have to go something like 200,000 meters, straight up !

Answer 5

The definition of "meteor" is the streak of light caused by a space rock blazing its way through the Earth's atmosphere. So a "meteor" is actually IN the Earth's atmosphere.

So meteors are at the same distance from the Sun as the Earth is; about 93 million miles.

Space rocks, on the other hand, can be at ANY distance from the Sun.

Answer 6

The Earth's atmosphere is about 480 kilometers (300 miles) thick. The majority of the atmosphere's mass is concentrated in the lower 40 kilometers (25 miles).

Answer 7

How can you actually tell? Meteors dont remain stationary in space do they? the distance will be different every time

Answer 8

The atmosphere doesn't end abruptly, but after a few hundred kilometers, there is not much atmosphere to speak of.

Answer 9

meteors are getting closer to earth every day

Answer 10

What exactly is meant by "the meteors"? Meteorites are not called meteors until they enter Earth's atmosphere, where they usually burn up unless they are very large.