This is a picture which shows the Earth, its atmosphere (the clouds are likely in the troposphere and stratosphere), the limb of the Earth (the dark blue curve/edge which is the mesosphere and thermosphere), and the dark blue to black region of space (where our exosphere extends out to...).
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy of NASA
The Exosphere
Very high up, the Earth's atmosphere becomes very thin. The region where atoms and molecules escape into space is referred to as the exosphere. The exosphere is on top of
the thermosphere.
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Our 2010 Summer issue of The Earth Scientist includes six articles dealing with various aspects of Earth Science. An article from NOAA details how lake effect snow can, under the right conditions, actually occur on the narrow Mississippi River.
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The exosphere is almost a vacuum. The "air" is very, very thin there. When air is thin, it doesn't transfer much heat to objects in the air, even if the air is very, very hot. One definition
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