Atmosphere of Earth However, polar stratospheric or nacreous clouds are occasionally seen in the lower part of this layer of the atmosphere where the air is coldest. The stratosphere is the highest layer that can be accessed by jet-powered aircraft. The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It extends from Earth's surface to an average height of about , although this altitude varies from about at the geographic poles to at the Equator, with some variation due to weather. The troposphere is bounded above by the tropopause, a boundary marked in most places by a temperature inversion (i.e. a layer of
Atmosphere of the Moon and potassium, which are not found in the atmospheres of Earth, Mars, or Venus. At sea level on Earth, each cubic centimeter of the atmosphere contains approximately molecules; by comparison the lunar atmosphere contains fewer than molecules in the same volume. On Earth, this is considered to be a very good vacuum. In fact, the density of the atmosphere at the Moon's surface is comparable to the density of the outermost fringes of Earth's atmosphere, where the International Space Station orbits. The elements sodium and potassium have been detected in the Moon's atmosphere using Earth-based spectroscopic methods, whereas the isotopes