(Illustration) Van Allen Belts (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

(Illustration) Van Allen Belts

Caption

When solar material streams strikes Earth's magnetosphere, it can become trapped and held in two donut-shaped belts around the planet called the Van Allen Belts. The belts restrain the particles to travel along Earth's magnetic field lines, continually bouncing back and forth from pole to pole.

Credit

NASA Goddard / Tom Bridgman

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