Misconception: If you’re not doing math, you’re not doing real science. Answer: Science does not begin with mathematics, but with direct observation, experiment, and special insights into cause-and-effect relationships. Many popular mathematical constructs today were devised early in the 20th century to help explain aspects of gravity-centric theory. Now, the…
Misconception: Electric Universe proponents reject the laws of physics. Answer: Science is the study of patterns in nature to uncover dependable relationships between causes and effects. As they are confirmed, these relationships lead to formulations of useful “laws” governing the natural world. We have to learn again that science without contact…
Misconception: Science is self-correcting. Answer: This misconception can be validly answered by both yes and no. No matter how glowingly scientists describe the virtues of the scientific method, it is and always shall be a human system operated by people. Whether science is in practice self-correcting will depend upon that…
Sep 20, 2013 The large ALMA radio telescope in Chile has discovered that “billowing columns” of “gas” are “fleeing” from gravitational forces that would snare them into new stars. The size of the Sculptor Galaxy depends on the outcome. Unless, of course, star formation is not so much a…
It’s said that our universe is filled with billions of galaxies. But how far away are they? Astronomers calculate galaxies’ distances by measuring their redshift. The most redshifted galaxies are said to be the most ancient and remote. But recently astronomers using the Hubble Telescope have observed galaxies that are…
Here we continue the discussion of the Voyager 1 spacecraft’s astonishing discoveries at the boundary of the heliosphere, revealing more surprises about the Sun’s magnetic field. Do charged particles from the Sun carry the Sun’s magnetic field out to remote regions as present solar theory claims?
Sep 19, 2013 The northern aurora is a highly energetic region. “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 The curtains of blue, green,…
Sep 18, 2013 Popular accounts of nebulas usually omit mention of their “hairy” structure. Because gravity can’t produce long, evenly spaced filaments of matter, astronomers don’t talk about them. Perhaps they don’t even see them. This double nebula is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small, irregular galaxy that’s considered to…
Sep 17, 2013 Are comets “dirty snowballs”? (This TPOD originally ran on Apr 01, 2013) Comet 2012 S1, an object approximately three kilometers in diameter, is presently inside the orbit of Jupiter. It is “remarkably bright” according to astronomers, although it is still millions of kilometers from the Sun….
Open a standard textbook in astronomy and read the discussion of galaxies, stars and planets. It will appear that gravity alone organized the cosmos and now keeps it running. We all know that electricity powers our lights, runs our computers and, in an unleashed form, creates static shocks and awe-inspiring…
