Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energetic charged particles, most of which originate from the solar wind, that are captured by and held around a planet by that planet's magnetosphere^{1 2}. Earth has two such belts, and sometimes others may be temporarily created¹. The belts are named after James Van Allen, who is credited with their discovery¹. The Van Allen belts are most intense over the Equator and are effectively absent above the poles³. The inner region is centred approximately 3,000 km (1,860 miles) above the terrestrial surface³. The Van Allen belts contain small amounts of alpha particles, and the outer Van Allen belt is composed of electrons⁴.