A ring of radiation previously unknown to science fleetingly
surrounded Earth last year before being virtually annihilated by
a powerful interplanetary shock wave, scientists say. NASA's
twin Van Allen space probes, which are studying the Earth's
radiation belts, made the cosmic find. The surprising discovery
— a new, albeit temporary, radiation belt around Earth — reveals
how much remains unknown about outer space, even those regions
closest to the planet, researchers added. After humanity began
exploring space, the first major find made there were the Van
Allen radiation belts, zones of magnetically trapped, highly
energetic charged particles first discovered in 1958. "They were
something we thought we mostly understood by now, the first
discovery of the Space Age," said lead study author Daniel
Baker, a space scientist at the University of Colorado. These
belts were believed to consist of two rings: an inner zone made
up of both high-energy electrons and very energetic positive
ions that remains stable in