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The information gathered by the international team was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters under the title 'Antimatter Belt Around Earth Discovered by Pamela Craft' (Volume 737, Number 2, ApJ 737 L29 doi: 10.1088/2041-8205/737/L29).
The PAMELA module (Pamela) is an abbreviation for Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics. It is a cosmic ray research module, which was attached to the Resurs-DK1 Russian-built Earth orbiting satellite. They were launched into space on June 15, 2006.
The complete paper is furnished via the PAMELA website.
In its polar elliptical orbit of between 350 and 610 kilometers (with an inclination of 70 degrees), Pamela's mission is to detect cosmic rays, with a particular attention on their antimatter component, such as of positrons and antiprotons.
The presence of antimatter around Earth has been theorized for years. However, none have ever been found, until now.
The antiprotons recently discovered around Earth, are produced, as the researchers stated, 'in nuclear interactions of energetic cosmic rays with the terrestrial atmosphere and accumulate in the geomagnetic field at altitudes of several hundred kilometers.'
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