Van Allen radiation belt

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English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology[edit]

From James Alfred Van Allen, US physicist.

Noun[edit]

Van Allen radiation belt (plural Van Allen radiation belts)

  1. (astronomy, physics) Either of two torus-shaped areas of high-energy charged particles which partly surround Earth, trapped by its magnetic field. The areas are characterised by intense radiation. When the belts "overload", particles strike the upper atmosphere and fluoresce, causing the polar aurora.
    Synonym: Van Allen belt
    Hypernym: radiation belt

Translations[edit]

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