- When a coronal mass ejection greeted Comet NEAT, space
scientists called it a "coincidence". But in an electric universe
such events deserve a second look.
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- The comet NEAT was discovered November 2002 by NASA's
Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program. As the comet moved toward
"perihelion", its closest approach to the Sun, astronomers were
not sure it would survive. The explosive destruction of Comet Linear three
years earlier, at nine times NEAT's distance from the Sun, underscored
the danger to comets from such a close passage around the Sun.
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- The Sun's glare prevented observers on Earth from viewing
NEAT's approach. But the SOHO spacecraft, stationed between Earth and the
Sun, has an instrument called Large-Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO),
which blocks the Sun's brightest light, permitting the satellite to record
the comet's dramatic swing around the Sun.
-
- As NEAT raced through the extended solar atmosphere,
a large coronal mass ejection (CME) exploded from the Sun and appeared
to strike the comet. The comet responded with a "kink" that propagated
down the tail. A video clip of the event can be seen at http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoho/Movies/
CometNeat/c2002v1.mpg
(The disk in the center is created by the coronograph as it blocks the
Sun's glare). For astronomers, the event illustrated the dynamic interactions
between comets and the solar wind.
-
- Scientists were quick to point out that meeting with
ejected material was a "chance encounter". But was it? Though
electrical theorists assert no interpretation of the event at this time,
they reject the theoretical assumptions that prompt mainstream theorists
to dismiss out of hand any possibility that a comet could trigger an eruption
from the Sun. If the Sun is a glow discharge at the center of an electric
field, and a comet carries a strong negative charge together with a vast
envelope of charged particles, the categorical dismissal of mutual interactions
is premature.
-
- In fact, SOHO has recorded several instances of comets
plunging into the solar corona in "coincidental" association
with CMEs. We see two comets grazing the Sun followed by a particularly
energetic blast from a mass ejection in this clip: http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoho/Movies/C3_
2comets_CME/C3_2comets_CME.mov
-
- Another instance of two comets grazing the Sun can be
viewed here: http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoho/Movies/2comets_
C2/2comets_C2.mov
-
- In a headline story, "Twin Comets Race To Death
By Fire", June 5, 1998, ScienceDaily.com reported:
-
- "In a spectacular coincidence, a coronal mass ejection
(CME) accompanied by an erupting prominence occurred on the southwest limb
of the Sun within hours after the destruction of the comets. The CME and
prominence were probably unrelated to the comets, being instead the product
of weeks of intense magnetic activity in that region of the Sun".
-
- Perhaps the original source of this story (apparently
a science writer with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center), paid dearly
for his use of the word "probably" in the above paragraph. Only
an electrical influence could justify any qualifications to the assertion
of a "spectacular coincidence". But the scientific mainstream
allows for no electric force outside the Sun to have any influence on the
Sun's atmospheric behavior.
-
- SOHO scientists make the point explicit in their discussion
of sungrazing comets and CME's:
-
- "A popular misconception is that sungrazing comets
cause solar flares and CMEs (coronal mass ejections). While it is true
that we have observed bright comets approach the Sun immediately before
CME's/flares, there is absolutely no connection between the two events.
The sungrazer comets -- in fact all comets -- are completely insignificant
in size compared the Sun".
-
- The statement is reasonable if the issue of "connection"
and influence is decided by relative size. But from an electrical viewpoint
the disregard for the powerful electric force in space is the greatest
single mistake in the theoretical sciences today. How would an electric
Sun respond to the approach of a relatively small but strongly charged
object? Comets typically display a bright coma extending for hundreds of
thousands of miles around the hidden nucleus. They can also entrain an
immense envelope of hydrogen gas. We do not normally see the hydrogen envelopes
of comets because Earth's atmosphere absorbs their light. But spacecraft
can detect them and measure them. Electrical theorists suggest that the
ability of larger comets to hold their hydrogen clouds in place against
the solar wind is a good indicator of the comet's powerful charge.
-
- The influence of the comet's electrical field is far
more significant than its trivial mass in relation to the Sun. What will
occur electrically if the charge plasma or "atmosphere" of the
comet penetrates the insulating double layer of the Sun's plasma sheath?
An analogy might be the effect of a pebble from space penetrating into
the upper atmosphere of the Earth where the intruder's plasma trail short
circuits the Earth's electric field to cause a high altitude discharge.
The issue has virtually nothing to do with the respective masses of the
Earth and the pebble. The disturbing image of the space shuttle Columbia
being struck by a discharge that followed its plasma trail through the
upper atmosphere also comes to mind.
-
- Perhaps the observation of Nobel Laureate Hannes Alfvén,
the father of plasma cosmology, can put the issue in context. It was his
opinion that coronal mass ejections are caused by a breakdown or breach
of the Sun's double layer-an event that provokes an explosive exchange
between the insulated plasma cell of the Sun and the plasma of surrounding
space.
-
- For the electric theorists, such questions deserve conscientious
investigation, with attention to the electrical phenomena indicated in
both solar and cometary behavior.
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- AUTHOR'S NOTE: The full text of this article, with text
links, can be viewed at: http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050526cometcme.htm
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- Photo Credit: Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)/ESA/NASA
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