UCLA scientists have discovered a new source of super-fast, energetic electrons raining down on Earth, a phenomenon that contributes to the colorful aurora borealis but also poses hazards to satellites, spacecraft and astronauts.
Planetary Sciences
Mar 30, 2022
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1482
A collaboration between researchers in Japan, the U.S., and Russia has found a hot spot in Earth's radiation belt where killer electrons, which can cause serious anomalies in satellites, form. The finding, published in the ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 13, 2019
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16
Auroras, also known as Northern or Southern lights depending on where they occur, are natural displays of light in the Earth's sky. Typically, these lights are dimly present at night. However, sometimes, these otherwise faint ...
Space Exploration
Feb 11, 2019
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8
A 60-year-old mystery regarding the source of some energetic and potentially damaging particles in Earth's radiation belts is now solved using data from a shoebox-sized satellite built and operated by University of Colorado ...
Space Exploration
Dec 13, 2017
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954
Earth's radiation belts, two doughnut-shaped regions of charged particles encircling our planet, were discovered more than 50 years ago, but their behavior is still not completely understood. Now, new observations from NASA's ...
Space Exploration
Mar 15, 2017
1
39
Our planet is nestled in the center of two immense, concentric doughnuts of powerful radiation: the Van Allen radiation belts, which harbor swarms of charged particles that are trapped by Earth's magnetic field. On March ...
Space Exploration
Aug 15, 2016
0
860
About 600 miles from Earth's surface is the first of two donut-shaped electron swarms, known as the Van Allen Belts, or the radiation belts. Understanding the shape and size of the belts, which can shrink and swell in response ...
Space Exploration
Jan 19, 2016
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1126
A Dartmouth-led study sheds light on the impact of plasma waves on high-energy electrons streaking into Earth's magnetic field from space.
Space Exploration
Oct 27, 2015
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881
I research space weather. That's how physicists describe how storms on the sun end up affecting us here on Earth. Most days I sit at a computer coding, attending telephone conference meetings with collaborators across the ...
Space Exploration
Sep 18, 2015
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32
(Phys.org) —It was a big week for discovery as a Star Trek-like invisible shield was found thousands of miles above Earth—it's in the Van Allen radiation belt and appears to protect the planet below from "killer electrons." ...
