Glossary term: Atmosphere
Description: Atmosphere is a layer of gas that surrounds a celestial body. It is maintained because of the gravitational pull of the celestial body and therefore it is densest at the surface and merges into interplanetary space at high altitudes.
For planets with solid or liquid surfaces the lower boundary of the atmosphere is clear. Stars have gaseous interiors so have no clear lower bound to their atmospheres. A stellar atmosphere normally refers to the outer gaseous layer of a star through which light from the interior travels out into space.
A magnetic field of a planet can protect its atmosphere from rapidly dissipating in space because of solar or stellar wind. In Earth's case, it also protects all organisms from genetic damage due to harmful effects of the solar wind and cosmic rays.
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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
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