Van Allen radiation belts
two belts (sometimes considered as a single belt of varying intensity) of radiation outside the earth's atmosphere, extending from c.400 to c.40,000 mi (c.650-c.65,000 km) above the earth. Their existence was confirmed from information secured by launching the first U.S. earth satellite, Explorer I, sent up during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58. The belts were named for James A. Van Allen, the American astrophysicist who first predicted the belts and then was first to interpret the findings of the Explorer satellite. The region of external belts has been given the name of magnetosphere to distinguish it from the atmosphere . The charged particles of which the belts are composed circulate along the earth's magnetic lines of force extending from the area above the equator to the N Pole, to the S Pole, and circles back to the equator. These particles are believed to originate in periodic solar flares. Carried by the solar wind, they become trapped by the earth's magnetic field and are responsible for the aurora borealis seen at polar regions. A part of a belt dips into the upper region of the atmosphere over the southern Atlantic Ocean to form the southern Atlantic Anomaly. This can present a dangerous hazard to satellites orbiting the earth.
Herbert Friedman, in his book Sun and Earth, describes Van Allen's global survey of cosmic-ray intensity: "The results from Explorer I, launched on January 31, 1958, were so puzzling that instrument malfunction was suspected. High levels of radiation intensity appeared interspersed with dead gaps... Explorer III succeeded fully, and most important, it carried a tape recorder. Simulation tests with intense X rays in the laboratory showed that the dead gaps represented periods when the Geiger counter in space had been choked by radiation of intensities a thousand times greater than the instrument was designed to detect. As Van Allen's colleague Ernie Ray exclaimed in disbelief: 'All space must be radioactive!'." Herbert Friedman later explains that "Of all the energy brought to the magnetosphere by the solar wind, only about 0.1 percent manages to cross the magnetic barrier."
The April 28, 1997 HST Update: Recommisioning Status Report states that the Van Allen radiation belts, between 200 and 500 miles high, "act as a thin, protective skin for Earth, trapping charged particles before they bombard our planet and harm us."
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Van Allen radiation belts two belts (sometimes considered as a single belt of varying intensity) of radiation outside the earth's atmosphere, extending from c.400 to c.40,000 mi (c.650-c.65,000 km) above the earth. Their existence was confirmed from information secured by launching the first U.S. earth satellite, Explorer I, sent up during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58. The belts were named for James A. Van Allen, the American astrophysicist who first predicted the belts and then was first to interpret the findings of the Explorer satellite. The region of external belts has been given the name of magnetosphere to distinguish it from the atmosphere . The charged particles of which the belts are composed circulate along the earth's magnetic lines of force extending from the area above the equator to the N Pole, to the S Pole, and circles back to the equator. These particles are believed to originate in periodic solar flares. Carried by the solar wind, they become trapped by the earth's magnetic field and are responsible for the aurora borealis seen at polar regions. A part of a belt dips into the upper region of the atmosphere over the southern Atlantic Ocean to form the southern Atlantic Anomaly. This can present a dangerous hazard to satellites orbiting the earth. Herbert Friedman, in his book Sun and Earth, describes Van Allen's global survey of cosmic-ray intensity: "The results from Explorer I, launched on January 31, 1958, were so puzzling that instrument malfunction was suspected. High levels of radiation intensity appeared interspersed with dead gaps ... Explorer III succeeded fully, and most important, it carried a tape recorder. Simulation tests with intense X rays in the laboratory showed that the dead gaps represented periods when the Geiger counter in space had been choked by radiation of intensities a thousand times greater than the instrument was designed to detect. As Van Allen's colleague Ernie Ray exclaimed in disbelief: 'All space must be radioactive!'." Herbert Friedman later explains that "Of all the energy brought to the magnetosphere by the solar wind, only about 0.1 percent manages to cross the magnetic barrier."
The April 28, 1997 HST Update: Recommisioning Status Report states that the Van Allen radiation belts, between 200 and 500 miles high, "act as a thin, protective skin for Earth, trapping charged particles before they bombard our planet and harm us."