The Electrical Birthing Of Stars
By David Talbott - Thunderbolts.info - 5 March 2005
Popular ideas about star and planet formation have received a jolt
from a recent peek into the womb of a newly forming star. The shock
came from the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory
as it peered into a star-forming region called R Corona Australis,
about 500 light-years from Earth.
The astronomers who investigated the region were well schooled in
the standard "nebular hypothesis" of star and planet formation.
The theory holds that stars are born in the "gravitational
collapse" of vast precursor clouds over great spans of time.
Based on their model, astronomers had assumed that the cloud was
"between 10,000 to 100,000 years into the process of gathering
itself together." Its temperature was estimated at 400 degrees
below zero Fahrenheit (minus 240 Celsius). Traditional theory says
that millions of years will pass before the cloud has collapsed
sufficiently to "ignite the nuclear fusion" of a new star.
Investigators had not anticipated anything comparable to the events
they observed. Extremely high energies were at work, strong enough
to produce X-rays-something that could never occur in an inactive
and diffuse cloud in space: "The detection of X-rays from the
cold stellar precursor surprised astronomers," states a report
by SPACE.com. "The detection of X-rays this early indicates
that gravity alone is not the only force shaping young stars,"
said Kenji Hamaguchi, a NASA-funded researcher at the Goddard Space
Flight Center.
The gravity-driven universe is, of course, the bedrock of popular
cosmology. Now it has failed another test. "The observations
reveal that matter is falling toward the core 10 times faster than
gravity could account for," the report states. According to
Michael Corcoran of NASA Goddard, a co-author on the report, "The
X-ray emission shows that forces appear to be accelerating matter
to high speeds, heating regions of this cold gas cloud to 100 million
degrees Fahrenheit." By comparison, the superheated corona
of the Sun measures at about 2 million degrees Fahrenheit.
What is happening inside R Corona Australis? The investigators concluded
that "some previously unrealized energetic process, likely
related to magnetic fields, is superheating parts of the cloud,
nudging it to become a star." We've seen this many times before:
a new discovery evokes statements of surprise, and magnetic fields
are mysteriously factored in to save appearances -- but with no
mention of the electric currents that create magnetic fields. How
does this happen?
It happens because electricity is re-defining the physical universe,
while conventional astronomers hold steadfastly to an electrically
neutral, gravity-only universe. No official acknowledgement of this
crisis has ever been issued by mainstream institutions. Yet without
electric neutrality across the plasma of interstellar and intergalactic
space, popular cosmology loses its foundation. Not only the gravity-based
models, but everything conjured through the magic of gravitational
mathematics (from dark matter and dark energy to black holes) will
evaporate.
There is a simple, readily observed, and easily testable physical
process that accounts for the discoveries in R Corona Australis.
Those who have studied plasma and electricity in the laboratory
discuss the dynamic all the time. The work began with the Swedish
experimental researcher Kristian Birkeland, and culminated in the
pioneering life's work of Nobel Laureate Hannes Alfvén, the
father of plasma science. Alfvén, the researchers that worked
with him, and such independent researchers today as Australian physicist
Wallace Thornhill and retired professor of electrical engineering
Donald Scott have offered numerous insights on the role of electricity
in space. And their models have demonstrated exceptional predictive
ability.
Astrophysicists know that such clouds are slightly ionized. However,
in the Electric Universe they are not everywhere charge neutral.
As a result electric fields and currents exist within the cloud.
These electric currents take the form of parallel filaments in twisted
pairs, behaving like cosmic power transmission lines. The electromagnetic
force between the filaments is the strongest long-range force in
the universe since it falls off linearly with distance rather than
with the square of the distance as does gravity. That is why matter
is falling into core of the cloud "10 times faster than gravity
could account for."
Plasma cosmologists also understand that electric currents heat
and accelerate gas to high speeds, generating intense magnetic fields.
And in electromagnetic "z-pinches" along these current
filaments, plasma instabilities generate copious x-rays!
The more we learn about the cosmos the less it looks like the picture
still taught in school. But without vigilance old theories become
an ideology and persist far beyond their usefulness.
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