The Electric Universe
Wallace Thornhill David Talbott
A new view of Earth, the Sun, and the heavens
The rare icon opposite is from a global study of tens of thousands of pictographs, described in Volume 1 of the THUNDERBOLTS series, Thunderbolts of the Gods.
It was carved in rock at Kayenta, Arizona.
It is a definitive human recording of the cosmic thunderbolt seen close to the Earth in its most lethal configuration.
Cover Image
HST image of the Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) reveals the full beauty of a bull's eye pattern of eleven or even more concentric rings, or shells, around the Cat's Eye. The cellular and filamentary structure is characteristic of a plasma discharge.
Credit: R. Corradi (Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Spain) and Z. Tsvetanov (NASA)
The
Electric Universe
Wallace Thornhill and David Talbott
Volume 2 in the
THUNDERBOLTS Series
Mikamar Publishing
Portland, Oregon
To the scientists of the future—
The Electric Universe
Wallace Thornhill and David Talbott
Copyright© 2002, 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Electric Universe / Wallace Thornhill and David Talbott
- Cosmology 2. Plasma and electricity in space 3. Electric Sun
- Electric comets
ISBN-13 978-0-9772851-3-6
ISBN-10 0-9772851-3-8
Printed in the United States of America by:
Mikamar Publishing
1217 NE 75th Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97213
503-740-9567
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In the course of visualizing, composing, and formatting this monograph, we have received invaluable contributions from many friends and associates, for which we are deeply grateful.
Countless editorial suggestions by our good friend and colleague Mel Acheson helped to shape the overall presentation. We also wish to acknowledge the help we received early on from Mel’s wife, Amy. Prior to her untimely death in 2005, she was the heart of our editorial staff.
We have received valuable comments and suggestions from astronomer Halton Arp, plasma scientist Anthony Peratt, plasma scientist C. J. Ransom, radio astronomer Gerrit Verschuur for his latest research on cosmic background radiation, mathematician and astronomer Dr. Robert Bass, astronomer Dr. Tom Van Flandern, and most importantly Professor Donald Scott, author of the recently-published book, The Electric Sky.
Comments and input from Scott Mainwaring, Ev Cochrane, Dwardu Cardona, Annis Scott, Tom Thomsen, and Louis van der Locht have been consistently constructive and deeply appreciated. Ian Tresman has been an indefatigable provider of online resources and research material. His Plasma Universe Resources (www.plasma-universe.com/index.php/ Plasma_Universe_resources) is recommended to all who are inspired to learn more about The Electric Universe.
Special thanks are due to Kevin Maguire for his concentrated labors in the final stages of monograph preparation.
Michael Armstrong, of Mikamar Publishing, and Brian Talbott, webmaster of www.thunderbolts.info, have provided many forms of support essential to our continuing work.
Ben Ged Low’s wide-ranging film production capabilities have enabled us to complete a 64-minute DVD Thunderbolts, with many clips from the DVD now appearing on the Internet and generating exceptional interest. Also, the literary efforts of Michael Goodspeed have, in recent years, helped to draw Internet attention to the Thunderbolts.info website.
In particular we wish to express our gratitude to Bruce Mainwaring, Gerald Simonson and Elizabeth Buntrock whose support has been indispensable to completion of both The Electric Universe and our earlier monograph Thunderbolts of the Gods.
Wallace Thornhill
Born and schooled in Melbourne, Australia, Wallace Thornhill completed a science degree at Melbourne University, majoring in physics and electronics. He began postgraduate studies with Prof. Victor Hopper’s upper atmosphere research group. Before entering university he had been inspired by Immanuel Velikovsky through his controversial best-selling book Worlds in Collision. He experienced first-hand the indifference and sometime hostility toward a radical challenge to mainstream science. He realized there is no future for a young heretic in academia.
He worked for 11 years with IBM Australia. The later years were spent in the prestigious IBM Systems Development Institute in Can- berra, working on the first computer graphics system in Australia. He was the technical support for the computing facilities in the Research Schools at the Australian National University (ANU), which gave him excellent access to libraries and scientists there. Remaining in Canberra, he then joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in the complex development of secure communications, message analysis and office automation. His spare time has been devoted to the con- tinuing study of astronomy and physics and regularly attending semi- nars at the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Research School of Earth Sciences.
In 1974, he was invited to attend an international symposium in Hamilton, Ontario, dealing with the works of Velikovsky. It was there that he first met Velikovsky and an organizer of the conference, David Talbott. Several years later, in following Talbott’s work, he was persuaded that the celestial dramas Talbott had proposed were plasma discharge phenomena. The two reconnected in 1994 and 1996 at international conferences in Portland, Oregon, and this began a partnership devoted to a new vision of the universe and of planetary history. The co-authored first full-color monograph Thunderbolts of the Gods, published in 2005, was followed by a 64-minute DVD Thunderbolts, featuring interviews with the two authors and other contributors.
He has for many years been an active member of the UK Society for Interdisciplinary Studies, and served on the society's committee. He has lectured in the USA and Europe on the electrical nature of the cosmos. The father of three daughters, all grown, he now lives with his wife Faye in Canberra, where he continues to pursue his life-long passion to identify the role of electricity in space.
David Talbott
Raised in Portland, Oregon, David Talbott has remained in the area all his life. A graduate of Portland State University, where he majored in education and political science, he returned briefly for graduate work in urban studies. His college observations on the failure of modern education led him to found two statewide organizations aimed at upgrading the quality of education at secondary and higher education levels. Both organizations were supported by leading corporations, the state bar, the medical association, organized labor, and major foundations in the region.
On reading Immanuel Velikovsky’s Worlds in Collision in 1968, a sense of discovery soon took his life in new directions. From 1972 to 1975, he published a ten-issue journal Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered, provoking renewed international interest in the work of the pioneering theorist. A few years later, following a lead provided by Velikovsky himself, he completed a book he called ‘a reconstruction of the ancient sky.’ The Saturn Myth was published by Doubleday in 1980, and his original research provided a foundation for independent investigations by several other scholars and scientists in the years to follow. In 1987, he founded the publication, Aeon: A Journal of Myth and Science, which continues today, focusing heavily on subjects opened up by this work.
In December 1996 Wallace Thornhill visited him for a month and this meeting convinced him that the celestial formations he had labored to reconstruct from ancient testimony were, in fact, electri- cal in nature.
His decades-long work was the subject of the 1996 feature- length documentary Remembering the End of the World. He is co- author, with Thornhill, of Thunderbolts of the Gods. He and his wife Nancy have four children, all grown. They now live in Beaverton, Oregon.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 — Cosmic Quandaries 5
The Big Bang and the ‘Expanding’ Universe 11
First assumption: that redshift implies distance. 13
From Speculation to Ideology 19
Second assumption: that gravity is sovereign 21
Metaphysics and Obscurantism 21
The Mystery of Cosmic Structure 23
Invisible Genies Rescue Gravitational Models 24
Chapter 2 — Plasma & Electricity in Space 29
Understanding the ‘States of Matter’ 29
Electricity and Magnetic Fields 38
Do Planets Carry Electric Charge? 39
Langmuir Sheaths and Auroras 46
Lightning Sprites and Their Companions 48
Acceleration of the Solar Wind 68
The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram 73
Temperature and Current Density 75
Red giants and white dwarfs 76
White ‘dwarfs’ and low-energy discharge 77
Coming to Terms with Electric Stars 84
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 4 — Electric Comets 85
Comets, Electricity and Gravity 95
Unexplained Surface Features 99
Comets and Coronal Mass Ejections 104
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 106
When Asteroids Become Comets 107
Deep Impact: The Smoking Gun 114
Deep Impact and Missing Water 115
Looking Past the Familiar Boundaries 118
Information Panels
Pioneers of Plasma Cosmology 12
Pioneers of Gravitational Theory 22
A Fateful Turn in Modern Cosmology 33
When Gravity Doesn’t Work 36
What is the ‘Electric Universe?’ 37
Langmuir Sheath and ‘Magnetosphere’ 41
Discovering the ‘Magnetosphere’ 43
Earth-The Self-repairing ‘Capacitor’ 51
What Makes the Sun Shine? 54
The Electric Photosphere 55
The Sun’s Electric Discharge Environment 57
The Mystery of the Solar Cycle 61
‘Magnetic Reconnection’ - A Modern Myth 64
Early Electric Theories of Comets 87
‘Deep Impact’—Where is the Water? 94
Plasma Discharge Modes 96
Comet Material Born in Fire 98
Introduction
“The observations that are not explainable by current scientific theories are the most valuable, for they may propel the field forward in the next cycle of innovation, possibly to a paradigm shift.”1
It has been said that the greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge. Too often the things we think we know obstruct the things we need to learn.
In the 20th century, the luminaries of theoretical science forged a picture of the universe that seemed somehow complete and inarguable. From subatomic physics to the life sciences, from planetary science to astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology, the ‘big picture’ of the natural world left little room for doubt. Or so it seemed.
Today’s popular cosmology stirs public imagination with weird and wonderful possibilities, all based on mathematics far beyond the interest or comprehension of most mortals. Working forward from a conjectured primordial state, the theorists would
have us believe that they have solved the primary riddles of the cos- mos - that they are on the verge of completing a ‘theory of everything.’
We believe otherwise. Modern theory is not impregnable, and all is not well in the sciences. Space age engineers have indeed achieved unprecedented advances, and theoreticians have basked in the resultant glow of public attention. But in this environment a decades-old scien- tific myth froze into dogma that progressively excluded uncomfortable facts and counter-arguments. By the end of the 20th century, the illu- sion became ‘reality’ and the voices of critics—present in considerable numbers—were no longer heard.
It will be up to historians of science to show how this occurred. To make our case we need only consider discoveries readily accessible to working scientists and to all who have remained skeptical in the face of supposedly settled questions. As we intend to show, the fundamental mistake of standard cosmology is its dismissal of electricity in space.2 Devotion to an electrically neutral, gravity-driven universe has turned cosmology into a playground for mathematicians. And this turn of events was possible only because today’s cosmologists lack the training to see the most compelling message of the space age—that we live in an electric universe.
Today’s cosmology asserts that all cosmic structure resulted from gravitational interactions following a primordial ‘Big Bang.’ On the contrary, here a Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope image shows part of the electrical ‘circuitry’ feeding the core of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
No gravitational theorist ever suggested structures of this sort. In electrical terms the red filaments are the cosmic power transmission lines feeding the plasmoid at the center of the galaxy.
Credit: Farhad Yusef-Zadeh et al. (Northwestern), VLA, NRAO.
1 D. L. Jewett, “What's Wrong With Single Hypotheses? –It's time to eschew enthrall- ment in science,” The Scientist, Volume 19, Issue 21, p. 10, Nov 7, 2005.
2 “It is pertinent to note, in this connection, that there are still many unsettled ques- tions concerning the lightning storms that occur only a few miles above our heads in our own atmosphere.” S. Chapman, The Solar Wind, Mackin & Neugebauer Eds., 1964, pp. xxiii-xxiv.
Only ‘normal matter’ can be directly detected with telescopes. Including matter and energy as separate elements in the same ‘pie chart’ highlights the breakdown of language in physics and descent into metaphysics. In the physical universe, mass is a property of matter. Einstein’s famous E=mc2 relates the energy stored in existing matter to its manifestation as mass. It tells us nothing about the creation of matter.Nor can it do so until we understand the real nature of matter. Image Credit: NASA, WMAP
Cosmic Speculations
"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms."3
How did the universe begin? How does it work? Where is it headed?
For years, the scientific media have bombarded the public with intriguing answers to these big-picture questions. The themes are familiar even to the most casual observers of scientific commentary.
Cosmologists speak confidently of the Big Bang that set the clock ticking and the universe on its course 13.7 billion years ago. This is a universe filled with black holes, dark matter, dark energy, and other incomprehensible objects and forces, all with one thing in common: they remain unseen and inaccessible under known laws of physics.
With each new discovery, the ‘Big Bang’ universe grows increasingly bizarre, inviting parodies that underscore the question many working scientists have hesitated to ask: can anyone make real sense of this?4 The popular science fiction writer, Terry Pratchett, satirized the cosmological creation event: “In the beginning there was nothing—which exploded.” When another science fiction writer, Douglas Adams, conjured an ‘Infinite Improbability Drive,’ the object of his wit was today’s probabilistic quantum theory, which disconnects cause from effect. This theoretical approach has opened the door to every imaginable violation of physical laws, culminating in what many now claim to be the greatest scientific embarrassment of the twentieth century—‘string theory.’ When theories are described as ‘beautiful,’ one humorist asked “Where are the surrealist-art critics of science?”
There is good reason for us to be skeptical. Cosmologists contend that their abstractions offer a secure foundation for understanding the origins, structure, and dynamics of the cosmos, as well as our place in it. But as we intend to illustrate with many examples, their conjectures failed to predict any of the milestone discoveries of the space age.5
Unyielding Faith in Gravity
“But hitherto I have not been able to discover the cause of those
3 Muriel Rukeyser, The Speed of Darkness, NY: Random House, 1968.
4 “In spite of the fact that we call it the Big Bang theory, it tells us absolutely nothing about the Big Bang. It doesn’t tell us what banged, why it banged, or what caused it to bang. It doesn’t allow us to predict the conditions immediately after the bang.”
Alan Guth in the BBC Horizon program, Parallel Universes.
5 “Big-bang cosmology refers to an epoch that cannot be reached by any form of as- tronomy, and, in more than two decades, it has not produced a single successful pre- diction.” Fred Hoyle, Home is where the Wind Blows, 1994, p. 414.
Introduction
properties of gravity from phenomena, and I frame no hypotheses.”6
Cosmologists insist that the weakest force known to science— gravity—controls the universe. Early in the twentieth century, Einstein redefined Newtonian gravity by placing it in a metaphysical framework. He combined the three measurable physical dimensions of space with a mathematical ‘dimension’ that cannot be measured with a ruler: time.7 The claimed success of Einstein’s ‘thought experiments’ encouraged mathematicians to follow his lead, and they have dominated physics and cosmology ever since.8
It must be said that Einstein himself showed integrity by doubting his own work. But his followers have shown no such restraint. In their devotion to mathematical abstractions, cosmologists wrote themselves a blank check, with the freedom to invent anything necessary to save the theory when observations didn’t fit.
Around the middle of the twentieth century, astronomers were shocked to discover unimaginable concentrations of energy in deep space. Limited to gravitational models, they could only envision super- massive, super-compact objects below the limit of resolution. The
laws of physics were suspended to allow for ‘black holes.’ On discovering galactic motions that directly contradicted gravitational models, physicists imagined vast regions of invisible ‘dark matter.’ Since no one could see it, they were free to place it wherever needed to preserve appearances. Then, when other dubious assumptions led them to think that the universe is expanding ever faster—the ultimate violation of gravitational dogma—‘dark energy’ was invented. It is an exotic energy neither witnessed nor understood, but supposedly dominating cosmic motions.9
As the ‘queen of the sciences,’ modern cosmology has imposed boundaries on all related disciplines, with disastrous consequences. How did the Sun and its planetary satellites arise? Theory required stars to accrete gravitationally from diffuse nebular clouds, lighting a nuclear furnace hidden in their cores.10 From the residual disk of equatorial material, the theory says, planets and moons slowly congealed, together with a horde of lesser rocks moving around the Sun as meteors, asteroids, and comets.
Spinning cloud flattening into a disk and condensing into a star and planets.
From: www.aerospaceweb.org/question/ astronomy/q0247.shtml
6 I. Newton, the final paragraph of the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
7 D. E. Pressler, “By definition, time cannot be measured in a single line so the use of the term dimension is ambiguous... any conclusions drawn from a fallacious argument is meaningless.” from a lecture at the 12th Relativity Meeting at Chicago University, 2002.
8 “For the non-specialists four-dimensional relativity theory, and the indeterminism of atom structure have always been mystic and difficult to understand.” H. Alfvén, Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1970, pp. 315-6.
9 We take up these cosmic quandaries in Chapter 1.
10 In Chapter 3 we offer an electrical alternative to the thermonuclear model of the Sun.
From these assumptions, it was no great leap to write the history of our solar system. If gravity rules, the planets have surely moved on regular and predictable orbits for billions of years—a tranquil backdrop for the geologic and biologic evolution of Earth, punctuated only by random impacts from space.
By the force of ‘reasoning from the top down,’ the clockwork solar system also set firm limits on our understanding of human origins, the history of consciousness, and the rise of civilization. In the uneventful solar system of theory, the present became the guide to the past.11 According to that way of thinking the sky above our early ancestors must have been virtually identical to what we observe today. A speculation thus deprived historians, archeologists, and anthropologists of a desperately needed incentive. It permitted them to ignore the universal testimony of early cultures that the sky once looked vastly different.12 Scholars investigating the human past did not realize that this submission to the cosmologists’ creed only added to the cost of misdirection in the sciences.
A New View of the Universe
Today a new breed of scientist is challenging modern cosmology at the level of its underpinnings. Sir Isaac Newton wrote to Robert Hooke in 1676, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Gi- ants.” This famous saying has become a cliché. But we must be care- ful whose shoulders we choose. Researchers standing on the shoulders of unsung twentieth century giants of science (including several Nobel Laureates) are investigating the plasma universe. They remind us that interplanetary, interstellar, and intergalactic space is filled with tenuous plasma, a medium that continually defies expectations.
Plasma is distinguished by the presence of charged particles, and the freely moving electrons in plasma are the primary carriers of electric currents. For today’s innovators, electricity is the key to understanding the never-ending surprises of the space age. The patchwork of modern cosmology is unnecessary, these researchers tell us. They do not follow abstract reasoning from the top down. Their understanding arises from experiment and direct observation. They begin by comparing plasma behavior in the laboratory to patterns seen in space. And their insights have consistently succeeded in predicting the path of discovery where standard cosmology has failed.
Working with advanced computer simulations and the most powerful electrical discharges that can be produced on Earth, these investigators are now pointing the way to a new and revolutionary vision of the universe.
11 “..Newtonian physics is a guarantee against the occurrence of – just about anything disagreeable.” D. Stove, Anything Goes, p.174.
12 D. Talbott and W. Thornhill, Thunderbolts of the Gods, Mikamar Publishing, 2005.