5 Things About Earth’s Radiation Donuts

  • Released Tuesday, February 12th, 2019
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 1:46PM
  • ID: 13148

Earth is surrounded by giant, donut-shaped clouds of radiation. These are the Van Allen Belts. The wild particles trapped here can affect our technology and astronauts that pass through this region — so we’ve sent twin spacecraft to study them. Here are five things to know!

Animations by: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Music: Funk the Floor by UltraCat [FMA], Something Elated by Broke For Free [FMA]

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Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center