Ronald Townsend, age 13, of Nitro W, Va. For his question:

Where are the Van Allen belts?

The first U. S. satellites of the International Geophysical Year discovered that our globe is ringed with belts of atomic particles.

They were named the Van Allen belts for the leader of the research team aloft which designed the instruments that were sent/with the satellites. This discovery was vitally important, since radiation from the atomic particles may be dangerous to astronauts.

The inner Van Allen belt is like a doughnut some 2,500 miles above the equator. Its particles are thought to come from cosmic rays. The outer belt is a doughnut some 10,000 miles above the equator. Its atomic particles are thought to come from the sun.