The atmosphere around the earth is made up of layers. The farther away from earth, the thinner the atmosphere gets.

The first layer closest to the earth is the troposphere. This is where all plants and animals live and breathe. This is where weather takes place.

The next layer is the stratosphere. Ozone in this layer stops many of the sun's harmful rays from reaching the earth. People could not breathe in this layer.

The third layer is the mesosphere. It is very cold. This is where we see "falling stars" (rocks and other materials burning as they rush through the atmosphere from space).

The upper atmosphere layer is very hot.

The exosphere is the highest layer of the atmosphere. The air is very thin here.

This picture shows the temperature in the different layers.

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Last modified: Tue Aug 12 22:51:14 PDT 1997