- Attempts to measure the size, age, and "expansion"
of the universe may be a good deal less precise than advertised. But the
problem is much worse if the astronomers' assumptions are incorrect.
-
- An astronomer at Ohio State University, using a new method
that is independent of the Hubble relation (which relates redshift to
distance), has determined that the Hubble constant (the rate at which
the universe is expanding) is 15% lower than the accepted value. His measurements
have a margin of error of 6%.
-
- Meanwhile, NASA astronomers, using another new method
that is independent of the Hubble relation, have determined that the Hubble
constant is 7% higher than the accepted value. Their measurements have
a margin of error of 15%.
-
- Because traditional astronomers never question traditional
assumptions (and appear not to recognize they even have any), they cannot
be expected to mention that their margin of erroneous assumption is somewhere
around 500%. That, of course, can account for their two "more precise"
determinations in exactly opposite directions. They are in the same position
as the clockmaker who attempts to determine the exact time of day by measuring
the position of the minute hand and fails to notice that the hour hand
is missing. Without recognizing that plasma makes up 99% of the universe
and that it has dominant electrical properties, astronomers inhabit a
make-believe universe in which precise measurements can mean precisely
opposite things.
-
- The first astronomer studied a bright eclipsing binary
star system in the nearby spiral galaxy M33. He measured with state-of-the-art
instruments the stars' orbital period and apparent brightness. He calculated
the stars' masses, and then their absolute luminosities, and then their
distance. His result was 3 million light-years instead of the 2.6 million
that had been accepted.
-
- One can presume that his measurements were accurate,
at least to within 6%. But the assumptions that he took for granted were
entirely erroneous:
-
- He assumed that gravity was the only force holding the
stars in their orbits. Without this assumption, he would have been unable
to calculate their masses. But in the past century, we discovered that
the Law of Gravity loses its jurisdiction outside the Solar system: stellar
jets and rings don't obey it, globular clusters don't obey it, galactic
arms don't obey it, galactic jets don't obey it, galaxies in clusters
don't obey it. (To save their belief in the Law, astronomers had to imagine
that the universe was composed mostly of invisible stuff-Dark Matter and
Dark Energy.) A universe made of plasma will exhibit a variety of motions
in addition to the "inverse square" force relationship that
we call gravity. (See Seeing Electricity In Space, http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/
arch05/050627seeelec.htm)
-
- He assumed that the mass-luminosity relationship was
constant for all galaxies. Astronomer Halton Arp's observational work
indicates that luminosity may decline with increasing redshift. A plasma
universe powers stars electrically from external sources, so luminosity
is not restricted to the mass-dependent output of thermonuclear fusion.
-
- He assumed that the "K effect" could be ignored.
It's been known since the early 1900s that the brightest stars (O and
B spectral classes) have anomalous redshifts -- if interpreted as a Doppler
effect, they appear to be receding from Earth. In view of Arp's finding
mentioned above, bright stars may be less luminous than is assumed for
their (gravity determined) mass, and hence calculations would overstate
their distances.
-
- NASA astronomers studied 38 compact galaxy clusters with
the Chandra X-ray Telescope to "measure the precise X-ray properties
of the [hot] gas" in them. They combined this with measurements from
radio telescopes of the increase in energy of the cosmic microwave background
(CMB) radiation coming from the direction of the clusters. Then they used
the SunyaevZel'dovich effect, in which radiation gains energy from
electrons in proportion to the electron density, temperature, and physical
size of a region, to calculate the physical size of the clusters. After
that, a simple trigonometry calculation gave them the distance. Dividing
the redshift-determined speed of the cluster by the distance gave them
the new Hubble constant.
-
- "The reason this result is so significant is that
we need the Hubble constant to tell us the size of the universe, its age,
and how much matter it contains," said NASA's Max Bonamente, lead
author of the paper describing the results. "Astronomers absolutely
need to trust this number because we use it for countless calculations."
-
- But again, the precise measurements were joined with
precisely erroneous assumptions:
-
- They assumed that the x-rays were produced by hot gas.
What they actually measured was x-ray intensities, and they applied standard
gas laws to calculate how hot a gas had to be to radiate those x- rays.
Plugging this figure into the SunyaevZel'dovich equations resulted
in a number for physical size. But a gas that hot will be ionized: It
will be a plasma. It will have electromagnetic effects. In fact, a plasma
can have electromagnetic effects -- in this case, radiate x-rays -- even
if it's not hot: fast electrons will spiral in a magnetic field and give
off synchrotron radiation. Space plasmas routinely develop double layers
that accelerate electrons (and positive ions) to high speeds. It shouldn't
be surprising that most x-ray radiation is synchrotron radiation.
-
- They assumed that the clusters were large, bright, and
far away, and they were looking for some method to tell them how far.
The observations of Halton Arp and others indicate that compact galactic
clusters are small, faint "buckshot" ejections (rather than
the "single shot" quasars) from nearby active galaxies. Like
quasars, they are often paired across an active "parent" galaxy
and may be enmeshed in radio-emitting and x-ray-emitting lobes of material
coming from the parent galaxy.
-
- They assumed that the CMB is coming from the farthest
reaches of the universe, passes through the cluster, and is energized.
In a plasma universe, ubiquitous Birkeland currents will absorb and re-
radiate microwaves: The CMB is a local effect, a kind of electromagnetic
fog. Enhancement of CMB in front of clusters is simply an additive effect,
not SunyaevZel'dovich.
-
- They assumed that redshift was a Doppler effect, indicating
velocity. Arp's work (and others) demonstrates that galactic redshifts
are mostly intrinsic: Galaxies with different redshifts are physically
connected with bridges of luminous material, and the redshifts, when adjusted
to the reference frame of the dominant galaxy, are periodic, occurring
only at preferred values. (See Thirty Years Later, http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/
arch05/050211thirtyyears.htm)
-
- As Arp wrote in Seeing Red, "The greatest mistake
in my opinion, and the one we continually make, is to let the theory guide
the model. After a ridiculously long time it has finally dawned on me
that establishment scientists actually proceed on the belief that theories
tell you what is true and not true!"
-
- Postscript Invitation: The full 64 minute documentary
film "Thunderbolts of the Gods" may now be viewed for free on
Google video: http://video.google.com/videoplay? docid=4773590301316220374&q=Thunderbolts+of+the+gods&hl=en
|
