These high-energy particles in space make up what are known as the Van Allen radiation belts, and their discovery was one of the first of the space age. A new study from my research team has found ...

Electrons in a Van Allen radiation belt (blue) encounter whistler waves (purple) and are sent raining toward the north pole (red). THEMIS satellites are seen near the radiation belt, while UCLA ...

Two bands of radiation called the Van Allen belts encircle Earth. After a May 2024 solar superstorm, two more showed up between those belts.

These bands are similar to the Van Allen belts — a pair of permanent donut-shaped radiation belts that extend up to 36,000 miles (58,000 kilometers) from Earth's surface and help to shield our ...

The discovery of the new belts, made possible by NASA’s Colorado Inner Radiation Belt Experiment ... since they travel through the Van Allen Belts several times before reaching their final ...

Caption The twin Van Allen Probes have spent more than six years orbiting through Earth's radiation belts. Orbit changes in early 2019 will ensure that the spacecraft eventually de-orbit and ...

More by James A. Van Allen This article was originally published with the title “ Radiation Belts around the Earth ” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 200 No. 3 ( March 1959 ) , p. 39 doi ...

Figure 1: Electron acceleration in the outer Van Allen radiation belt. Although the present results may provide a resolution to the debate over which mechanism is the dominant cause of ...

Van Allen, J. A., paper presented at joint meeting of National Academy of Sciences and American Physical Society on May 1, 1958. Van Allen, J. A., Ludwig, G. H., Ray ...

In particular, recent work has focused on wave-particle interactions, solar wind-magnetosphere interactions, and energetic particle dynamics in Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts through analysis of ...

Earth grew a pair of extra "radiation belts" after a supercharged solar storm rocked our planet's magnetic field last year, data from a resurrected NASA spacecraft reveal. And one of the invisible ...

Van Allen and the discovery of the radiation belts are featured on the cover of Time magazine on May 4, 1959 (right). (NASA SVS) After Explorer 1 launched, though, they noticed that their ...