- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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?
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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."
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- 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!
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- 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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