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Monday, August 8, 2011

Abundant Antimatter Circles the Earth

The find could one day open the door to fueling spacecraft with the exotic particle, an idea already being explored from NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts.

Right out of Star Trek.
Funny how Science Fiction Always turns into Fact.


International Business Times

A band of anti-protons have been discovered ringing around the earth, researchers have found, adding to the list of particles Earth holds within its magnetic field.

Cosmic rays constantly rain in from space, colliding with earth's atmosphere and creating a spray of new particles. Scientists have observed antiparticles before, such as anti-protons, but this is the first time antiprotons have been observed.

Many of these particles become trapped inside Earth's Van Allen radiation belts, the donut shaped zones around Earth where particles spiral around the planet's magnetic field.

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