Trioxygen (O
3) is usually known as ozone and is a very reactive allotrope of oxygen that is damaging to lung tissue. Ozone is produced in the upper atmosphere when O
2 combines with atomic oxygen made by the splitting of O
2 by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Since ozone absorbs strongly in the UV region of the spectrum, the ozone layer of the upper atmosphere functions as a protective radiation shield for the planet. Near the Earth's surface, it is a pollutant formed as a by-product of automobile exhaust. The metastable molecule tetraoxygen (O
4) was discovered in 2001, and was assumed to exist in one of the six phases of solid oxygen. It was proven in 2006 that this phase, created by pressurizing O
2 to 20 GPa, is in fact a rhombohedral O
8 cluster. This cluster has the potential to be a much more powerful oxidizer than either O
2 or O
3 and may therefore be used in rocket fuel. A metallic phase was discovered in 1990 when solid oxygen is subjected to a pressure of above 96 GPa and it was shown in 1998 that at very low temperatures, this phase becomes superconducting.