Since their discovery over 50 years ago, the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts have been considered to consist of two distinct zones of trapped, highly energetic charged particles. Observations from NASA’s Van Allen Probes reveal an isolated third ring in the outer radiation belt.
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/NASA" title="NASA">NASA</a>: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/rbsp/news/third-belt.html">https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/rbsp/news/third-belt.html</a><br><bdo lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:YouTube_files" title="Commons:YouTube files">YouTube</a>: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9qKIVlhXpQ"><bdi lang="">Previously Undetected Radiation Belt Revealed</bdi></a> – View/save archived versions on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9qKIVlhXpQ">archive.org</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.today/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9qKIVlhXpQ">archive.today</a></bdo>