Van Allen Radiation Belts - Earth Discover

The aurora borealis, or northern lights, gleaming brightly over Bear Lake, Alaska, in January 2005. Auroral displays like this are the result of high-energy solar-wind particles interacting with Earth's magnetic field and with particles trapped in the Van Allen radiation belts.

1958: Discovery of Earth’s Van Allen Radiation Belts by Explorer 1

Explorer 1, led by James Van Allen, revealed the existence of Earth's Van Allen Radiation Belts, a major discovery in space science and Earth's magnetic field study