The Electric Sun/Earth Connection Confirmed

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The Electric Sun/Earth Connection Confirmed
12/17/2007
By Michael Goodspeed
The day of this writing, December 13, 2007, is the 140th anniversary of the birth
of the Norwegian-born physicist Kristian Birkeland. It was Birkeland who
correctly hypothesized in the early 20th century that electric currents from the
Sun power the earth's auroras. For many decades, the scientific mainstream
largely rejected Birkelands thesis, favoring instead the idea that Earth's
magnetosphere is an impenetrable envelope, "squeezed" by the solar wind to
induce auroral activity. Only when satellites detected the magnetic signatures
of electric currents in the aurora in 1973 was Birkeland's hypothesis irrefutably
validated -- though for another two decades many astronomers resisted the
implications of this discovery.
In testing his ideas about the Earth/Sun connection, Birkeland built a vacuum
chamber and placed a magnetized metal ball called a terrella inside it,
representing the Earth. He observed how the terrella behaved in its artificial,
electrically charged atmosphere. In addition to solving the riddle of Earth's
auroras, Birkeland's electrical experiments also uncannily simulated planetary
rings and the energetic displays of cometary jets. Yet a full century later,
astronomers continue to be mystified by these phenomena in space. (To see
Birkeland's observations on the electrical properties of comets, published in
1913, read "Comets: Kristian Birkeland's theory").
More than a century after Birkeland's polar expedition to investigate the
Northern Lights, mainstream scientists still express surprise or even
astonishment when they observe the telltale signs of electrical circuitry
connecting the earth and the Sun. That is because they still cling to theoretical
models that conceptually exclude the possibility of electrical circuits in space --
even when their models are refuted by new observations that they characterize
(and sometimes discard) as "impossible."
The disconnect between astronomical theory and discovery is in full display in
the recent NASA press release, "NASA Spacecraft Make New Discoveries
about Northern Lights".
The report discusses the THEMIS spacecraft's recent observations of "giant
magnetic ropes that connect Earth's upper atmosphere to the Sun and
explosions in the outskirts of Earth's magnetic field." Describing the THEMIS
encounter with a "magnetic rope" NASA investigator Dave Sibeck states: "It
was very large, about as wide as Earth, and located approximately 40,000
miles above Earth's surface in a region called the magnetosphere."
Investigators observed that the so-called rope "formed and unraveled in just a
few minutes, providing a brief but significant conduit for solar wind energy.
Other ropes quickly followed: 'They seem to occur all the time,' says Sibeck."
The Electric Sun/Earth Connection Confirmed
http://www.thunderbolts.info/webnews/121707electricsun.htm[11/9/2014 3:01:33 ]
Magnetic "ropes"? This expression begs the question of how the fluid dynamics
envisioned by NASA can explain a "rope-like" structure that twists and changes
dynamically, and extends all the way from Earth back to the Sun. NASA
scientists often use the phrase "flux ropes" to describe these twisted
filamentary pathways traversed by charged particles. But to electrical
engineers, such terminology reveals a deep confusion among astronomers
struggling to comprehend unexpected electrical activity. Professor Donald E
Scott, author of The Electric Sky, says, "Ropes, of course, have beginnings and
ends. Magnetic fields do not. So this use of language from NASA fails to
explain anything, and is conceptually wrong as well as misleading." (For a
synopsis of Prof. Scott's highly acclaimed book, see here).
The "ropes" to which the investigators refer are commonly described in plasma
Science as electrical "Birkeland currents," named after the aforementioned
Kristian Birkeland. The rope-like structure is not just a curiosity; it is the
structure taken by current flow due to the long-range attraction and short-range
repulsion between current filaments. The "twisted magnetic fields" are simply
the signature of the electric current flow. In plasma cosmology, these entwined
plasma filaments act as transmission lines carrying "field-aligned" currents
across interplanetary and interstellar space.
A layperson reading the NASA report might believe that the observation of
these "ropes" is news -- as if they had never been seen before. But Birkeland
currents have been the object of plasma research for more than a century. The
term describes an electric current in a space plasma. It is this function of
plasma filaments that inspires Electric Universe proponents to assert, "There
are no isolated islands in space!" However, the term "Birkeland current" has
never been included in the mainstream astronomical lexicon. Only in recent
years have astronomers begrudgingly entertained the concept when evidence
has allowed for no alternative.
The NASA report continues, "The mission is only beginning but THEMIS is
already surprising us," says Vassilis Angelopoulos the mission's principal
investigator at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The surprises for investigators began in March, when "a substorm erupted over
Alaska and Canada, producing vivid auroras for more than two hours." The
report reads: "Right away the substorm surprised investigators: The auroras
surged westward twice as fast as anyone thought possible, crossing 15
degrees of longitude in less than one minute,' says Angelopoulos. The storm
had traversed an entire polar time zone in 60 seconds flat!
"Also, 'the display was surprisingly bursty.' Photographs taken by ground
cameras and NASA's Polar satellite (also supporting the THEMIS mission)
revealed a series of staccato outbursts each lasting 10 minutes or so. 'Some of
the bursts died out while others reinforced each other and went on to become
major events.'"
The energy of this two-hour outburst -- five hundred thousand billion J oules -- is
roughly the energetic equivalent of a 5.5 magnitude earthquake. In trying to
discern "where does all that energy come from?" NASA is left groping for
explanations.
The language used by the investigators reveals their determination to avoid
describing obviously electrical displays in terms of electrical circuitry. Rather,
they cling to ideas of mechanical "collisions" between magnetic structures --
without explaining how these structures can be magnetic in the absence of
electricity -- somehow generating the observed energies. The NASA report
describes the "magnetic ropes" (electrical Birkeland currents) observed by
THEMIS as "twisted bundle(s) of magnetic fields organized much like the
twisted hemp of a mariner's rope." This description is colorful and poetic, but

The Electric Sun/Earth Connection Confirmed
http://www.thunderbolts.info/webnews/121707electricsun.htm[11/9/2014 3:01:33 ]
does it amount to a scientific explanation? Left unanswered is, how are the
ropes created, and why do they twist?
The report continues, "Spacecraft have detected hints of these ropes before,
but a single spacecraft is insufficient to map their 3D structure. THEMIS's five
satellites were able to perform the feat.
"THEMIS has also observed a number of relatively small explosions in Earth's
magnetic bow shock. 'The bow shock is like the bow wave in front of a boat,'
explains Sibeck. 'It is where the solar wind first feels the effects of Earth's
magnetic field.' When a knot of magnetism within the solar wind hits the bow
shock--'Bang!' he says. 'We get an explosion.'"
Using such language to describe the electrical currents and powerful
discharges from solar energy replaces the language of advanced plasma
science with the mechanical language of wind and water. Nowhere does the
report mention the explosive potentials of the "double-layer," a structure
common to all plasma sheaths -- the cellular strictures, such as Earths
magnetosphere, around charged objects in a plasma.
A double-layer consists of two parallel layers of opposite electrical charge. A
catastrophic rise in voltage across the structure may result when flow is cut off.
This causes the double-layer to "explode" -- as observed when a circuit breaker
is opened incorrectly. The explosions THEMIS has observed are the
predictable effects of instabilities in the interface of Earths plasma sheath, and
the out-flowing charged particles of the solar wind.
Clarity can be gained on many space phenomena, including unpredictable
outbursts of comets, supernovae, and coronal mass ejections, if astronomers
will consider the well-documented dynamics of electrical double-layer
explosions. The irony here is that by clinging to gravity-only dogma ("no
electricity in space"!) -- a dogma codified before we had the tools of modern
plasma science -- mainstream astronomy has obstructed the path of scientific
progress pioneered by Kristian Birkeland a century ago.
" It seems to be a natural consequence of our points of view to assume
that the whole of space is filled with electrons and flying electric ions of
all kinds." -- Kristian Birkeland
______
For your best gateway to the Electric Universe, see Thunderbolts.info. And for a
highly-acclaimed 60 minute video introduction to the Electric Universe, see
Thunderbolts of the Gods on Google Video.

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