South Atlantic Anomaly

The South Atlantic Anomaly is a region of space that has reduced magnetosphere coverage, with higher-than-usual levels of radiation because Earth’s inner Van Allen belt comes closest to the Earth’s surface here. It’s an area centered just a bit off the coast of Brazil, and it has caused computers in satellites to crash, astronauts have reported seeing “shooting stars” in their visual field and a space telescope was destroyed by a guidance computer’s fault. The Hubble Telescope is turned off from taking observations when passing through the Anomaly and the International Space Station avoids scheduling spacewalks when passing through it. The anomaly is known to be caused by the high levels of radiation that accumulates here, but scientists aren’t sure exactly how or why.