Van Allen Belts - Far out on the outer edge of the atmosphere are two doughnut-shaped regions of radiation, known as the Van Allen Belts. The belt is made up electrically charged particles held in place by the Earth’s magnetic field.
The belts are the strongest over the equator and the weakest over the poles. The belts were discovered by the US Explorer 1 satellite in 1958 and named after James Van Allen, who designed and planned the research that found them. The belts shield the Earth from destructive cosmic rays coming from place.
