Surely there is no single, secret pathway to theory-altering discovery. But it should go without saying that innovation, not common beliefs, has driven the most critical advances in the sciences. The great discoveries did not arrive by accident. From the Copernican revolution to the discovery of “impossible” electric currents in…
Jan 30, 2015 These two galaxies appear to be elbowing each other with their spiral arms. The consensus interpretation is that they’re colliding and generating shock waves that initiate gravitational collapse of gas clouds. The collapsing clouds become stars, many of which are extremely massive. These quickly run through…
Jan 29, 2015 Shockwave: a compressional wave of high amplitude caused by a shock (as from an earthquake or explosion) to the medium through which the wave travels. The plasmasphere of Saturn is highly energetic, enough so that, when the Cassini orbiter sent images to Earth, lightning up to a million times…
The electric comet idea forces us to consult the astronomical testimony of our earlier forebears, where independent accounts told with different words and different symbols in different parts of the world, convey a story of planetary catastrophe.
Jan 28, 2015 M47 is an open cluster of fewer-than-usual stars. The contrasting colors of blue and red have an aesthetic appeal. One can even detect a few orange and yellow stars. A person may glimpse an occasional green one, especially if that person fiddles with the RGB settings…
The Electric Universe By Wal Thornhill We live in an electric world. Our cities are visible from space at night, blazing with electric lights. The electricity courses invisibly in the darkness over great distances along thin power lines. We find electricity indispensable. Nature does the same since all matter is…
Jan 27, 2015 A salty ocean beneath Titan’s ice? NASA launched the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft On October 15, 1997. The bus-sized, six ton payload was the largest deep space mission ever deployed, requiring a seven year journey to Saturn. Cassini-Huygens entered orbit around Saturn on June 30, 2004. Its name has…
Jan 26, 2015 Galaxy clusters are thought to be pulled by a force emanating from “beyond the horizon” of the Universe. Astronomers believe that the Universe is expanding at an ever accelerating rate. Contemporary theories suggest that galaxies are receding from us because they started out receding from us…
With this introduction, David Talbott begins a series of video presentations exploring the profound celestial events that shaped early cultures the world over. It’s a vast subject with radical implications—a new perspective on planetary history and the human past. See the three full documentaries in the Symbols of an Alien Sky…
Jan 23, 2015 Astronomical theories predict a white dwarf star that can not be found. In the nuclear view, a planetary nebula is the result of a dying star that has exhausted its hydrogen/helium fuel supply and collapsed under gravitational compression. The stellar implosion rebounds off the core, throwing…
