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Electric Baubles in the Night
Dec
17, 2008
Lights on
a Christmas tree depend on electric
power. So do the lights in space.
The Christmas Tree cluster contains
about 40 stars and lies in the
constellation Monoceros, along with
the Cone Nebula. Both were
discovered by William Herschel
between 1783 and 1786, although the
Cone Nebula was named by L. S.
Copeland. One of the most
interesting features in the nebula
is the fir tree-shape extending
upward from the bottom of the image
shown above. It appears to be
crowned with a blazing ornamental
star at its apex.
The gases and dust making up the
general structure of the nebula are
lit by the ultraviolet light being
emitted by the "hot, young stars"
that make up the cluster. As is
commonly thought by astronomers, hot
gas is supposed to radiate
ultraviolet light—it must be so
since the idea of electricity
lightning up the stars just like the
string of lights on a Christmas Tree
is foreign to conventional
understanding.
Many nebulae are labeled
“star-forming regions” because
stellar ignition is dependent on
condensation out of a cloud of
molecular gas and dust. Most
astronomers assume that a shock wave
of some kind is necessary for the
cloud to collapse. Supernova blasts
are said to begin the initial
collapse and to “seed” the region
with larger clumps that will cause
more dust to be attracted to them,
as well.
NGC 2264 is another story told about
the birth and death of stars in the
womb of gravity and inertia, but key
ingredients are missing from the
mix. Where is electricity and the
electromagnetic wave guides needed
to power the stars? Both are ignored
in favor of thermonuclear fusion
reactions taking place in the
super-compressed hydrogen cores of
new stars. However, why does the
heated gas collapse instead of
dissipating, as thermodynamic
physics would insist?
The Electric Universe theory relates
a more reasonable account. Instead
of “hot gas and compressed dust,” it
is plasma and magnetic fields that
form the
electric stars.
Birkeland currents power the
galaxy and prevent plasma from
dispersing inside their
multi-light-year-long helical coils.
When the electric current density
inside the filaments gets high
enough, the plasma that carries the
current begins to glow and to
“pinch” into plasmoids that
eventually become the stars.
When the electrical stress is low
and the plasma contains a lower
concentration of dust, only the
stars in a nebula "light up" in
arc-mode discharge. Where the
electrical stress is greater, as in
the Christmas Tree cluster, curling
filaments, jets, and the surrounding
"gas" clouds can also light up. Of
course, dust clouds can reflect the
light from nearby stars, but NGC
2264 illustrates the characteristic
filaments and cell-like behavior
seen in plasma laboratory
experiments.
The light in the nebula is produced
by electrical discharge, so it is
not unusual for ultraviolet and even
x-rays to be generated by the
intensity of the stellar arcs. The
correct understanding is that a
nebula is a laboratory
“gas-discharge tube,” similar to a
neon light, which emits light due to
the electrical excitation of the
gas. So it seems that both the
Christmas Tree in the living room
and the Christmas Tree cluster
operate in very similar ways: both
are plugged-in to an electrical
circuit.
By Stephen Smith
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