Two doughnut shaped zones of high energy charged particles, mostly from the solar wind and cosmic rays, trapped around Earth by its magnetic field: an inner belt dominated by protons and an outer belt dominated by electrons, with a relatively particle-poor slot between them. Confirmed by the earliest satellite missions of the Space Age, they remain central to understanding radiation hazards for spacecraft and astronauts.
Facts
Concept Domain Formulated Year Proposed ByDiscovered and described by physicist James Van Allen, who published an article on the belts in 1958 following analysis of Explorer 1 data. 1 Connections
Associated With
Apollo crews passed through the Van Allen belts on trajectories planned to limit exposure.
Source Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
In the Other Atlases
Originated In
Also in Science Atlas: where this subject originated.
Sources
1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Van Allen radiation belt (Wikipedia)
Van Allen radiation belt, lead paragraph section
The Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energetic charged particles
Van Allen radiation belt, Discovery section
The belts are named after James Van Allen, who published an article describing the belts in 1958.
In Group: Planetary Environments and Exoplanets, Lead sentence
The Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energetic charged particles, most of which originate from solar wind, that are captured and held around a planet by that planet's magnetosphere.
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.