Aug 7, 2019 Quasars are not gravitational entities, they are electrical. According to a recent press release, Lizelke Klindt, a PhD researcher in Durham University’s Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, said: “How quasars develop has been the cause of significant uncertainty. What our results suggest is that quasars undergo a brief…
For many years, images of the the clustered galaxies of Stephan’s Quintet have suggested interactions that should not be taking place, at least not according to the assumptions of standard cosmology. As Thunderbolts colleague Mel Acheson explains, Stephan’s Quintet invalidates the cornerstone of Big Bang and expanding-universe cosmology: the assumption…
Aug 6, 2019 There are many carbon-based molecules in space and on rocky bodies. Tholins are large organic molecules found off the Earth, sometimes in space and sometimes in some of the coldest environments. They do not exist naturally on Earth, because they would be immediately dissociated by ultraviolet light and…
Aug 5, 2019 When science journals discuss the behavior of planetary nebulae, the typical opinion involves gas and dust “blowing” through them. In many cases, a nebula is described as “star forming” when intense X-ray radiation, or extreme ultraviolet light, indicate to astronomers that nuclear fusion is occurring within the…
NASA’s Dawn mission at the dwarf planet Ceres has revealed many unresolved mysteries. These include why the heavily cratered surface of Ceres features a surprising absence of large craters; why we have never found any meteorites from Ceres on Earth; and it’s a puzzle where exactly Ceres might have formed,…
Aug 2, 2019 Why are volcanoes on Mars found in linear groups? According to conventional theories, volcanoes on Earth form when the plates that make up the Earth’s crust move over upwelling magma plumes. Magma naturally seeks out the weakest areas in the confining strata, allowing it to erupt onto…
Aug 01, 2019 Why are stars so unalike? “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”— George S. Patton It is a mystery to astronomers why stars exhibit such distinctive characteristics, because the stars, including the Sun, are thought to form from the same mix of elements in a…
June 30th marked the annual celebration of Asteroid Day, and science media used the occasion to suggest the need for greater funding for planetary defense against such an intruder. But just how real is the danger to Earth from kinetic impacts from asteroids, comets and meteors? In this episode, we…
Jul 30, 2019 Dust storms occasionally engulf Mars. On Mars, dust storms are not diffuse and separated like those on Earth, they are caused by tornado-like whirlwinds whose tops reach higher than Mt. Everest. They appear to draw surface dust up through thousands of sky-high funnels and carry it for…
Jul 29, 2019 Are there thousands of exoplanets? Exoplanets are thought to be in orbit around various stars in the Milky Way. In the past, it was impossible to see them, because starlight is so bright that it obscures dim, reflecting bodies like planets. Twenty years ago, astronomer Geoff Marcy,…
