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Vanallenbelts Sciam Mar1959 PDF
Vanallenbelts Sciam Mar1959 PDF
ERICAN
O far, the most int crcstillg and least ca rrying ballooos-"rockoons." (The bal- force and sct off these displays [see "Au-
J.
-------"'=.:..:.----- ~---+
ST Iu.: crunF: or RAO IATI ON BEI.T:;i r.,.-~,I ..I b)' ,',,,, Iv,, ... of (/~fr i ; d Oli (.i8/lI ) 'une •• ,l i_t rih 'Hi" " lor pa,·tid eo in t h~ 1"0
",,1'''1;0'' ;.n"",il y (/.o l"d· "'li t , ) i •• 1""", or heR' 3l ir ally b )' .h~di,,~ h~h •. COnlOU r n u ml,~rli , h e co """ I"" .er""d; horiz,,",a J •..ale
summer rUld f:lll of 1957 1_'1ure,K'C C;,· cllergctic protons ( h.vdrogcn nuclei ) (U 1956, :l Jong-st:l1ldi uS group of high-
hill and J launched a number of rockoons well as elC('lrons. al titude experimentalists, called the
off the ('Oa~ t of Crcculand ~ml :lIS(! got II leanwhill' (,II of us had been pushing lIud,ct and Satellite lIesc(u'C h Panel.
ofT one s Ul'CeS.~f\l 1 flight in ,\ ntan:tic;,. a new development tba t greatly eJCp;U\d- held a s~ mposium to CQnsider how the
The latter flight established th:! t the r;\- cd the possibili ties for h igh-alti tude re- ).,tcilites could be most fnli tfuliy em·
i1iation e:xists In the southern as well as sc;lrch. [hiring the )'\,m ml'r of 1955 the ployed. AI that meeting our group pro-
the northern aUTOI'JI wne. I n February, l'residen t and otlier Covernment author- pO$(!(1 two projC(;ts. One was to put a
J958. Carl ~Icll\\'ain lired 11 series of ities were finally persuaded that it satellite into an orLit nearly pole-to.pole
two-)'tl1ge rockets through visiLle (lUro- lIIight be feasible to plaee artificial )atd- 10 survey Ihe auroral radiation in both
ras "Lo\'e Fort Chu rchill in Canada, and lites in orbi t, and au thori7.ed an !. C. Y. the north and 50uth auroral20ncs. Such
disl«)\,cred tlta l the mdiation includes p"'il"CI for this purpose. In Janu ary. orbitl, how('\'er, did not appcnr to be
10
,)"",. ,Ii'h""'" in ea rth ""Iii t"b"HI ,LO()(I mile" fro,,' the ~~ ,\!cr " d ioacti,'c (1~~a y ..1 ncut ro " . lih"l'ated '" 'he uPI.cr ,n "" " IJhcl'e I.y
of !I,e e,"' )" l'"n;ol e, in Il,~ i"nc r lod , "'~)" or i gi,,~te ,,·;, b the co;;" "c r~)"g; t ho ... in t h~ 6u' ". 1,.11 I)ro l,ubly "';I':;""'~ ;n Il ,~ ,u n.
tech nically feasible in the immeoiate appa ralus [see "1'110 Artificial S"lelli te a year: to use fhe provcn Ju pitcr C
futu re. For the time !xing we "'..-re as" Re,c"'ch I Il~t rllmen t. " by ] ,.mes A. rocket as a satc!!itc·!aunchi.lg v("hide.
fon-e(\ to aba mlm} th e use of a sa tellite Van Allen; SCU,; STlFIC A"'EIIlCA." , No· As " resuit on jmllwry 31, 1958. Ex·
to pwbe farthe r in to the auroral soft vember, 1956]. 11 w as planned to p lace plorer J wenl i"to orbit e~rryi"g <Ju r
rad(:.tioll. We a lso suggested that a sate]· this app"m tus on one of thc early Va n- simplc cosmic-ray dct~...,tOr ,,,,d " radio
lite orbiting over the lower h.titud~ of guard vehicles. to bro"dC;lSI its rc"d i"g.~ .
the ea rth might useFully bc emp loyed in The d ifficulties and Failures of the In the Ilrsl .epo rts from stations locat-
a I.'Olllprehe nsive survey of cosrnic-r~y Van guard 1m: now hislOIy. Spulnik I ed iu the U. S. the in tensit y of rad iation
inte nsi ties over those regions. This proj- $li mnlatC<! some hi.gh government offi· increa~e<! wit h alti tude along the CJipect-
ect was adopted. and we wcre "uthor- einls 10 al"{.'ept a jl''OI)OSi') that n num· cd cu rve . Sevcral \\'cck ~ b t(". howcver,
ize.;i to I'rCl';ore su it ab le experimental ber of us ha d 1~'C" urging for mure than we began 10 get ta pes frOUl s l ,ltil>llS in
41
South America aud Soul]' Africa which
£,1\'e us counting rates fo r milch higlw[
a!titudl'S, due 10 thc t'Cct'n trici tv of the
sa tellite's orOi t. These reco rd~ ur;)ugh t us
a new surprise. .... t high ,lltitudes over the
c' lua torill l region the npp<lrcnt coun ting
ra te W:lS ver)' Ill\\'; in some paSSL'S ;1
dropped to :zero fOr ,,,ve rnl minutes. Yel
at lower aIJitudes th e r,lle hnel 'luite
",easona ble" vnlucs- from 30 10 50
cotl nls :1 w(."Ond. Again we were UllC:)SY
. ": .. about the trustworthiness of the ins tru·
me nls. The only al!crna t lye seemed to
be th at cosmic rays d o tlo l strih· the
- .... , uppe l1nos t byers of ll,e <ltmusphcrc over
the tropics, and we wcre 'Illite unable
to :le{OCpt this {undusion.
Our uneasiness W,]S illereaS{'(] bl' the
incompleteness of our C,lrlV llat'I.· The
F:XI'LOH F. n I V AN I) I' I ONEfH III I;~"e ,he 'iro, del , il" .. l'i ~I " . c "I Ih" «"H"t ;!)" hdt • . Explorer I :Ipp",-atu$ bro,tdl:as t its obser-
1"10" L' llIorer IV .,te llite L</wrr clliJ>$~ ) m!)nitoretl r :o <li:ot ion I" "ch I". " ~arly 'wo ",,,,,Ibs vations continuously, bllt its Signals
,,\ "hi,,, tI ,,, " 1"0 1.300 ", i le!. The I'ionee r 111 1.,,,3, probe ( 1o,,/{ d/iI'M! ) Ilro"id"d tl nla on'
{'01l1d lK- pickt.>d up only intermi ttentl y,
to 65.000 ",il e!. It.' or bil i ~ ;;1.0"'" oIi . lor' etl he":o tl~c of Ih" ""rl lo's rOI3I ;on d\1ri,, ~ Hig hl .
when the sa tell ile came within ran ge of
a gro und station. Our original app:u" tus,
dcsigned and develo ped b y Ccurge Lud-
wig fo r the Vangunrd ~!l t ellitcs, indudl'(l
a magne tic-tape rL'Wnlt;r which t'Ould
store its observa tions ror" complete (>Ibi t
~round the ea rth and tlw l) r('Port Ihm] ill
a "bmst" nn radio co mmand from the
ground.
10.000
\ fA:-.. fi rst tap<:s from Explort'r Ill . .\!dlwain
suggested the first plausilJle explanation
',000
~ I/~ for their pl'CuJia r readings. lie hnd just
heen culibraling his 1'0(.-\.:('1 in~t ..ume uls,
.lIlt! c'llIed our attenlitlll to some thing
--
w
' 00
I ~
that we all kncw but had tt'mpor1rily
forgo tt cn: A suffiCien tly high IeI'd of
r"dilltion e~ n jam tl,e <':<J ~ll , to:r and send
42
DETECTOR FOR CH .. NNH 4 OEU CTORS fOR CHANMIS I AND 3
r-1
~~. ~- -----------~-~-~-~1"~.~y
(I ((c· /,·] "r;i'~~(D:~,%;:;;;;,:
mCTRCNICS. BAIT!'RIES. ~IIG H pawn nANSIV,lrTER DETECTOR fOR CHANNElS 2 AND 5
I LOW POWl'~
NA~T IC
:2 3. _ 16
I nANs.'.mm I
SCiNTILlATO R
(QI PHOTOMVLTI
ru BE
PIlE~ llNEAR
AN,PIlfIH
DISC R,'-IlNATOR
f1I1J1J1 SCALE
Cf 16
CHAN NU 5
J1 ",.,
I G~IGE~ TUBE SCA.lE OF 2048 CHAN N EL 3 I--
I 2 3 4 .64
I I I I I n"
I SHIELDED
GEIGER lUBE rL--'~
'-''=~'=''='''''='---1~~~~~}------..LU:'-.------{,~~~:D
SCALE Of 6<1 CHA"JNH T )----
powu
I
HIGH
TRANS/I.Illff~
II I
L'( PLonER IV I NSTH UMEN T S " -e re d e;;ig,, ~,ll" give" , l cI~ih:,,1 r3 the. t103'' ;,,,1;";11,,,,1 I '~ r ' i el ~ ~. Sll idded nlld ,,,,,,hield,,d Ceige ,
l'iO'lure ()f t be n~lurc ""d ; ntc n i!i ly of Ih" r",l i'l il\ l1 . Plp.t ic 8,-;,,· tu he. cou ld be "oUl I,nred 10 P. ~d"'"l c the I' ellel r"hilil )" of tI", r"di,,·
liJlalor cou "le.i ollly dlO Tged l'" t id e! ab o ..., r."r\" il] " " er gie.; 1"'0 'i (l n. R:" lio sign , is 5I1gg"'~tet! b)" the red eu"·es ill "pper d'3 Will g
tldTc ',,"1 $c" ling f:"'lO r~ " ..t al'le,1 it 10 bot lo hi ,,10 3,,,1 low countin g 'H'c reco,·<I" ,1 by ground . lndon$ ""rl I:,l er ,,In)·p.d Ihro uglo ~
.ale, . Cc~i ",,,·iodidc .,· i"l ill"." , ",e:,."'cd th e 10ral cll ergy input III uiti r h"" ,,d " .eilJ"gml,h 10 yidd <"' ....>rd . li ke Ihm , hown below.
4J
MItES
TWO SETS OF CONTO UHS from readings on Ol,po.;te ~ i tlel 01 or r" di al ion. wl,;r]' PO;I]' ,o"'ard ,he ""rM" t ~"" "~; [he contOllr
th~ .,arth flefl "'u/ ,;"",~r) ~ho", the nort her n and SOU t h~T" " ho rrl '~ ""tllbeu $lt()\.. ""t int iOIl ;nlen. it )' in ~ Oll" l . per ""Co ",t. T ltr, " t ; PI'ed"
CQsmie rays. At higher ;.Ititudcs-the pre- magnetIC Geld might ;tet as a tr"p fo r with the atoms of atm ospheric gases
cise he ight de pcnued on both lati tude charged p([rticles was lint sugges tcd by CHuse it gradua lly to chan£e its tnljeetory
lind longitude-the l'Qu nt increased to the -'lorwegiun physicist Carl Stormer ;lnd to lo~e energy. After ;t period of days
vcry high valucs. Up to the points at ill a cla.,sical series of papers begillning or week.i thc particle is los t into the lowe r
wh ich the l'(juntcr jammed, it showed some 50 years ago, :,llld there "'<IS a a tmosphere.
l'Ounli ng ra fes morc th an ! ,000 times L'onside:able body of evidellcc fOT the
the thL'Orelical e.~p(:ctlltiu n fo r (:osmic existence of low-cnergr charged p:trli- ' [-'here was obViously an urgent scien.
rays. From lhe rate of increase and the des throughou t our solar system and tific new to extend these o bserva·
length of the pe riods of jammi ng we specifically in the vicin ity of the eart h. tinm with f'!luipmcn t of gn.':\t~'r dynamic
judged th at the maxi m um C'Ounl proh. But there h"J been no indic;'ttiotl tha t TUnge und discriminati0l1. !Il Apr il 01
ahly wenl to scvera! li mes thi s level. these p.ulicles woulu PQssC!;s the high 1958 we persl1adL'<:\ several Federal
Since the radiation appe~tred 10 rc~em · energies we hau dc1eet cd . agencies to support further sa tellile
hie the auroral wft radi;l tion. we w ot dd From SIi)rm,' r's th('(lr«tic~l discussion /ligh ts of ou r rad iatinn <X[uipmCll t " 5 an
not lwve bce!! surprised to fl nd It in the and our own observ" UollS we e volved a adjunct to the !. C. Y. program, anc! we
auroral wne or ;tlong the nmgnclic !i!lc~ ro ugh picture of the tntpping mechan- received the enthu~i:~ ~tie support of the
of force that CQnncct thcse l'.ones. But in ism. When :t fast-moving cha rged pa rti. NJtional AC;l(iemy of Sciences for the
Ihe (''<.[lI;1 torinl la tituues tlu:~e lines of de is injectcd in to the earth's magne ti c (.'Untinua tion of our work. We also per·
force lie much f,!rther ou t in spacc than Belli, it describes :t corkscrew-shaped snaded the Army B.lllislic ~ ! i~sile A gen.
the altitudes ntl:tinetl by the sutelHles. tr:ljuelory, the cen ter line () f which lies cy and the Cape C;mavcral Air Force
On ~ by I of ht~t ye~lr we were ab le along;t magne tic line of force. T he tu rns Base 10 try to place the sa tellite in an
to report with ('Onl!de n(;e to the Nation"l of the helical pat h ure (Illi te open over orbit more steeply inclined to the c(lua·
;\eadcmy of Sci':'nces " nd the Ame rican the e'[1.I.1tor but become lighter as the tor ; a t ;\tl [nelinatiOIl of about 50 degrees
Phy~ical Socicty th"l Explorers 1 and particle reaches the stronge r magnetic to the e([Uatof it would cover a much
[[ I had d is('UvcH'd a melior new phenom- field !(wlard the p'oles [see illustration til gn'ate r area of earth and skim the edges
enon; a vcry great intensi ty of radiation botfof)l of oJlpD.l'ilc pI/geJ . At the lower of both aurora l zoncs.
:lOOVC n ltil~tdcs of ~ome 500 miles over end of its trajectory the p artide goes into \\lorking night and day, we Sl'I out at
the <:n tire region of tl, cir t.-;lversc, ~omc " flal spiral ,,,,,..I Iltt:tI winus back "long, OtlCe 10 build new "ppnratus of a morc
34 degrees north and south of the equa- a similar path 10 the 01 her hemisphere, discriminating ll'lturc. ' Ve retained the
tor. At thc samc lime wc advanced the making the tTansit rrom one hemisphcre Cdger t "he, which we had u.~etl in pre·
idca that the r"di;l t ion cOIl$i$ ts of to the oth er in a secot\<l or so. During vious s:l tellitcs, (IS a basic "simple-mind.
clt;trged P,"'ticies- p reslIln'tbly pro tons this lime its line of travel shifts slightly, t:d" de lec tor. To be ready for the highest
lmd electrons- trapped in the m:tgnelic so th;'t t the part ide d rifts slowly around intensities of radia tion, however. we
Geld of the culh. the earth as it ('OrksclCws from hemi- ,,:;cd a much stn(llle r tube tllat would
' Ve could rule oul lI1Kh arged particles sphere to hemisphere. An ei.:.oetron (lr ifts yield a lower co unt in a givcn IInx of
BlId gamma and X-rays bccause they from west to e;lst : a I', oto n, in the op- radia tion, and we hooked it into (\ circuit
would not be conGned by th e magnctit pOsite direction. At each enu of its path tlt'lt would scale down its coun t bv a
Gcld, and so would be observed at lower the particle desce nds inlo regions of milch k. rger factor. T o oh tain a better
(IJti tudes. T he pos~ibi1i t y that the earth 's higher atmospheric density: C'Ol1isions idea of the penetrability of the rndiat iotl
the earth ncar the auroral "..ones [sec
MAGNETIC iIIu,,'trlJtiol1S at th e lop of t!tesc tu.:o
"ages]. The entire picture so f:lr i~ com-
pletely consistent with Ihe m:lgnetic-
tfllpping theory.
It W;)S de:lr from the contours thut
Explorers I, III :md IV l)Cnctra ted onlv
th e lowcr portion of the radiation lmli.
As early as lAst spring we bega n 1.0 mnke
hypothetic:ll extensions o ( th e observed
contours ou t to n disla,'1.'e of sever;,]
thousand miles. One of these sp-eeulntivc
diagrams showed n Single, doughnut-
shaped belt of raell,llion with ~l ridge
around the northern and ,~ollthenl edgcs
of its inner circumferen..'oC, t:orrespond-
ing to the horns of the t'()1'ttO'tlTS. Another
sltowed IwO belts-:ll't o~l t er region wi th
."' L:mana-shaped cross section th~t ex-
tended from the Ilortll<:::m to the south ern
:1\t1'ornl zonc ;111<1 an inner belt over the
eq uator wi th a bean_shaped eross section
[sec iIIustrCltiorl 011 lJ(lges '10 and 41 ].
d.",,·jng al ";I\hl . 1'0'" dl ~ e• ..,,,,i,,1 ')· IIII"~t.y <.If Ihe ."dio';"" al'o u" d tI,e e"rth'~ mn Kl1et ic
"~i •. The ~t ." rt "re of the r~,l i~t i n" ~one "' n_ ),u ill "I) fr" ", h" ,,,I. <:<I. 01 oll...,,,'cd po;n, •.
The In tter dia gmm seemed til 61 the con-
tou rs better. In our semin nrs and after-
hour diseus~ io", ~lcJlw"it1 held out for
the two-belt theory. The rest of us lend-
we shielded a SitlliLor Geiger tube with ;[ our observations to more th:m 50 degrees cd to ... grce with him Iml prererred to
millimetcrQf k ad . t\ Sa 1nore discriminat- nol'lh and south of the equator and have stay with the single "doughnut" because
ing particle dClectol" we ndo ph..-<I a pbs- been ablc to plot th e in tensity of the of its simplicity,
He scintillator und photomultiplier tube f:lliiation at vMio us l;\titudcs and longi .
to respcnd to clcctron~ with an energy tudes for altitudes ttl' to 1,300 mi les. Toof take the q uestionwe Oltthadof toth e secure
specu t~t ion
rC:llm
uf Inure than 650,000 electron volts and The intensity contours follow the shape
to protons of more than 10 million elec- of the e:lrth in the t«luatorial regio n, but mea~urCtllen ts through the entire region
tron volts. Finally \\'e glued a thilt ccsi- as they .1pproach high northeTll :md of radi:ttion. In MOlY. therefore, I nr-
mil-iodide crystnl to th e window of an south ern la titudt,S they swing outward , r~nged to have one of our radia tion dc,
other photmllultiplicr tube; the light then inward and sharpl)' outwlIrd agnin tectors earried abounl th e lunar Jlfobe.~
cmitted by the crvstal when it w:ts ir- t(l fo rm ;'hoTlls" rcnehing down toward planned for the fall of 1958. On October
radinte<1 would tlle:t~u'c the ovcr-illl in-
put of energy rather than th e arriv"l of
individua l partides. To keep out light
when the crystal faced the sun. we
shielded H wi t.h thin, opaque ni ckel foil.
A speci;t! amplifier gave this dd ..'Ctor "
large dynamic range extending fmm
;.lJout .1 erg per second to lOO,O(}() ergs
per secontl.
Explot'cr IV carried this appnrat us in-
to orbit on July 26, and sent down d,,!n
for almost two months. ;\h'tgnetie tapc$
frotll some 2.'5 observing stations flowed
in stcildily from late July to 1:111.' Septem-
ber ; altogether we obtained some 3.600
recorded p,'ts~cs of the satellite. A typ Ical
pa$ w~s readable for several minu tes;
S()tlle of the best were re~dable for tip to
20 minutes. a large frnetion of the time
re(j'tli red for the satellite to ma ke a turn
around the earth. \Ve are still a n aly~.i ng
this tnas~ of data, bu t Ihe prc!imin:u'Y
resl1 lts have :llready p roved to be en-
ligh tening.
The readings hav(, confirmed OUf eHl- TIl ,\ I'I' t:1) 1',\nT1CLES "pieai r~Jlid!y I...ck "",I f(!r, h nlo,, ~ a eoek.... ,·e..··" .. ~Jled pa llo
lier estitn:lt{'s of the maximum le veb of ,, ],o;;e ~e" ' ~r i ~ " "' :'~ "~' i(' line of lorce. Atlhe game time they d.ill slowly "eound Ih earlh
f:ldi:ltion. ~lor"'Qvcr, \\'0 have extended ( t,roke" "ero""t. fl ",·I."", \n el{lI/i",) ~n .II"QIQ n~ ( ",,~ i/"'e i drift in oppo,ite die...:l iQ""
II, 12 :md 13 I'ion<-'i'r I. the first lunar des per Sl.llI;1re CCl1titn~ler per second. 011 ea rth indicales that the particlcs arf'
prolX', (';Irrit.>d ou r instruments nea rly ~I ost of \15 belie,·c thai this great slow-mm'ing and thus of r('I.'tivd~ low
i O,OUO miles out from the earth. Though reservoir of particles originatcs largely energy. It may be th;lt the e;lrth's mag-
its readings were spotty, the) confimlcd in the su n. TIle !>articles nrc somehow nctie field lraps onl~' a high'(,l1erg~' (ral'-
our h..lid that the n ldintion ('xtendcd injected in to tl1<' eflrth 'S" m~gnetic field, tion of the particles. Alten mtil'c1y, some
nulwu rd for m:my thousands of miles, wh en' th ey arc dellcctcd illln corkscrew unknu",n maglletohydrnd ynafll ic d f<->ct
with its max imum intl!lIsity no more than traject ories Mound line s of force and of the earth's field mny accelera te the
10.000 miles nbolle the carlh. troppcd. In this theoret ic:11 scheme the ~ Iuggish particles to higher velocities.
The nexl au~mpled moon shot. Pio· muiation \)ellS resemble a sori of leaky Some sneh procas ill Oll r gnb xy has
neer II. was a fiZ7JC. Pioneer III , how. bllcket, constantly relllk'f.l from the sun been suggested as responsible for the
Cllf'r. \\'"nl off beautifully on Dt.'cember and draining away in to the atmosphere. greal energi cs of co~m ic m)~. The SC<."Ond
6. Although this rod,ct \Vns intend"lilo ,\ particularly large influx of solar ]l:'r- problem in the sola r-origiu 111<-"ory is that
re ach th e vieill H" of the moon. we were ticlcs ca USl'S the bucket to "slop over,n it is dilr,(."ult tf) e~plnin ho", dmrg<-><I
almost as plells~1 wIlen it (ai!e(1 to (10 IIlninl)' in the :lI1rornl ~.one , gene rati ng pa rticles call get in to Ih(' earth's m ~g
so, for it gave liS eXl'Cllcn t d:.ta on both visible auromS', m~gnetic stonos and re· ne tic fi d d in the fi rst place. We believe
the upwa rd and dow nward legs of its Intt.'lI disturbances. T he nol11l:\1 leakagc that neither problem is Ul1sol"Hble.
fli gl't, cutting throl'gh the mdiation re- may IX! resl)Onsible for th e Ili rglow which Nicholas Christofilos of the University
gion for 65.000 mik'li in two places. faintly iIIumin:ltcs the night sky :md may of California and the $(wiet ph~'sici~1
'111e observations on both legs showed also account for somc of the ullc xplnined S. N. Vernov ha\'e suggested an en tirely
a duuble 1X!;lk in inlellsit) [$l"'f' i/lustrfl- hi gh tefnperatllres which ha\'e IX'Cn olr different theory of how the radiation
/iIJII III hollom of lH'f:!e 42J, estahlishing se rV('d in the upper a tl1lo~phere. origina tes. T hey note tha t nell trons arc
thnt the re arc inde<-"(I two helts mther This solnr-origi n theo ry. while attrnc- relcas(."(1 in large 111,,111)('1'8 in th e em·th·s
thnn nne. Ti le illllt'r belt re:lehes its t1\'e, presents two problems. neither of " pper atmosphere by th e im pact of cos·
peal (I t about 2.000 mi lcs from the earth, which is yet solved. In the first pla(.'C mic rays. These lIcutrons, being un-
Ihe outer one :\t about 10.000 miles. the ('nerg), of m:wy of th e p:lrticlcs we dmrgc<l, can tra"e1 through the mag-
B('\OIul 10,000 miles the r.1diation in- IJ;l\'e observed is far grea ler than the pre- netic fi('ld without deflection. In due
tel;sity diminishes sleadily; it disa plx!;1rs sumed en('rg~ of solar corpuscles. The course some of them deem there into
"Irno~t complel('] ~ beyond 4(),OOO miles. lil1etic ('l1ergy of solar (.'Orpusdes llIls electrons and protons. which' are trappt.><I.
The ma ximum iutensil \ of rtldi~lion il1 11 0 1 lx-en measu r<-'f.1 difectl~, bllt the Our gro up agrees th:lt p.lrticle-injec·
{'~dl belt is ~ bo llt 25.01)0 (;Ol1 l1 ls per St.'<:- time-bg between " solm olltblll"sl and lion of th is sort is goi ng on, and al a rate
UII(I. Clluiv:ilcnl to some '10.000 pMti- the colIse'lucnt magnclic dist urbances which clln IX! easily calc:ubted ; but we
fed for " nlllnher of reasons th:lt it ca n-
not be the main sour<-'i' of mcliation-bdt
particles. If we :.re right in supposing
Ihat th e radiation belts proville the '"res-
CT\'oir" for the auror:l. the neut ron h,·_
pothesis ca nnot :leco.mt for mor(' th,;"
IInc 10.000th of the :1111'01":11 energy ou t-
]1\11. E" en if the :I~ soci :t t jon bt:'lwcen
the r,ulia tion b<'lts and the a11rora t11ms
Olll to be fortuitous. prclimillar) indica-
tions both (rom our worl and from the
Russi,ln exp<.'rienCt'" Wl lh Splltnil III
SlIt.!:!;cst tll:a most of the pn rtic!e~ in thc
r:lt!iatiOIl bel t lmve much lower energies
thml those of particles th,lt would 1>1.'
produee(l l>y neutron dee;I~·. :\ £\111
lno"kdge of the energy di~triblltion of
the p:ntic!es will aid greatly in clarifying
their origin.
:\either them)' I.':\"plaills why there
~h0l11d he two belts rather than olle. It is
tempti ng to combi ne I he two theories
and snppose th at the inllC!" helt orig-
in:lt{·s with "internal illj<-'<:tiol1"'- i.C .. ncu-
tron.(lec~~ prnduets-:llld the ollter one
wilh "external injeclion ~ of solar t.'Or-
puseles. '1'11(' two-belt conAguT;ltion ma~'
or cuurse be a transitoT\' pil('nomenOll,
though thr da ta from K~plorer IV and
Pionel'r lit indiC:l tc tlmt the ~p,m'te
helt~ per~isted in essentifllly th e same
IlEA D O F EXI'[.Ollf:£1 1\' iurl .. ,I!!, 110,"" ,""'e (/p/II , inslr"",,,n! '" 1"1) 1",,,1" !ce"t~d a".! fonn for "t least five months. We should
1..... Wel i,'e ,;hell I "i[('01 I. f'u) luall inrl .. ,Iu 1011' ,Id~d or.. I,,,) r,,,1io Ir~ " " ,, till"r .. ball"ri.,.. hell r in mind, however, thnt 1958 was
allli ~'.llr i " l "d d e,."o"i,· . iro uil ,.. Th" OUl e" . hell i. a l'l'ro ,i"'~lel ~ li i.~ il"']"'. in diamc'er. a renT of grl"':l t solar act hit) . Th ree ~ears
FOllIsr ,\ GE HOC KET lu uu"]' ed ,he Pi""cee 111 "'(>(> " wobe 0" OUlI",,,,,d I c~ !'-m'e " rO Ill ;" " O'" record 01 ,".linl'"'' "111 10 65.000
I)c" c ,,,b,,r 6. 1958. T I''' '' ll h Ihe nighl Il1 il.·,1 hI reM h Ihe "'''0''. iU ,nil eij; Ih e 'n J,,,"!1(l lcg ga,"e ,1:01" belw~"''' 30.000 u,,,] iU.OOO m iles.
from rlOW we may well find a milch tha t will monitor r:ldiation levels for the poles. t\ "space station" must orbit
IOIl't'r over-all illl cnsitv "n~1 pcrhaps a :II least " year. below '100 milt::s or beyond ao,ooo miles
dinen:n! structure (l ltogethcr. from the earth. \Ve are now planning n
measurcments show that the 1!l ~.X s<o tellite flight that will test the cffic(lcv
In 'lddition to these possible long-term
d];tnge~. there may be shari-term flu(.~ O imum
Uf
47