radiation belt

American  

noun

Physics.

1. Van Allen belt.

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radiation belt British  

noun

1. a region in the magnetosphere of a planet in which charged particles are trapped by the planet's magnetic field, an example being the earth's Van Allen belts

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Etymology

Origin of radiation belt

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Instruments detected an electron radiation belt far stronger than scientists had predicted.

From Science Daily • Feb. 7, 2026

Researchers have spied the first radiation belt outside the Solar System.

From Science Magazine • May 17, 2023

Those particles are channeled into Earth's radiation belt.

From Salon • May 17, 2023

Trapped inside Jupiter’s radiation belt and internally heated by the planet’s powerful tidal forces, which knead the moon’s innards like dough, Io is a completely ice-free world of hyperactive volcanoes.

From Scientific American • Apr. 24, 2023

But this thin atmosphere can serve a useful purpose, because it may be just thick enough to protect the surface from the intense charged particles in the Jupiter radiation belt in which Io is embedded.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan