The atmosphere is divided into five parts: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. The mesosphere, therefore, is the atmospheric layer that begins at 50 km from the surface and reaches 80 km.
It is there where the sharpest drop in temperature occurs (from -10°C at the base to -90°C at the top), due to the drop in the density of the gases.
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It is dense enough, however, to offer resistance to bodies entering Earth's orbit. Most shooting stars (meteors) that we see are celestial bodies burning up from friction with the air in the mesosphere. The space shuttle Columbia caught fire inside the mesosphere at an altitude of 61 km in 2003 during the re-entry process.
Due to this frequent vaporization, in the mesosphere, we can find atoms and metal ions suspended in this region. The mesosphere, however, has no water vapor and no ozone, which means it is constantly bombarded by radiation emitted by the sun.
mysterious lights
Some curious and little studied phenomena occur in the mesosphere. Under the right weather conditions, ice crystals form which can be illuminated by the sun. during twilight forming noctilucent clouds (occurs only in summer between latitudes of 50 and 70º).
At the mesopause, which is located 90 km above the surface, at the upper limit of the mesosphere, the phenomenon of chemiluminescence (or aeroluminescence) takes place. By the interaction of atoms or molecules of oxygen with cosmic rays there is emission of light that can be seen from the ground.