Jul 15, 2019 Mars is dry and barren. “It’s not going to do any good to land on Mars if we’re stupid.”— Ray Bradbury The surface of Mars is mostly iron and silicon, with quantities of oxygen bound into the regolith. Its atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide, with a scant…
In the first three parts of this presentation, Thunderbolts colleague Andrew Hall has explored the electrical nature of wind and powerful storms on Earth, and on planets throughout the solar system. Of course, geologists tell us that winds played a significant role in shaping the landscape of our planet, supposedly…
Jul 12, 2019 In previous Pictures of the Day, evidence for plasma discharges on planets and moons was discussed. Electrical activity in the form of lightning bolts and diffuse clouds of charged particles could be the agents for bizarre conditions on celestial bodies. Many dwarf planets and moons might have…
Jul 10, 2019 Juno will circle Jupiter for another four years. Jupiter is the largest planet. It is so large that all of the other planets could fit comfortably inside its 1.77 X 10^15 cubic kilometer volume. Jupiter rotates in 9.925 hours, causing its diameter to be 9275 kilometers more…
Since the start of the Space Age in the late 1950s, scientists were often surprised about what was found by space probes and remote detection devices. Probe results were often described as “surprising” or “unexpected”. In 1950 there were four major assumptions that were directly or indirectly used in developing…
Jul 8, 2019 Stars respond to incoming electric charge flow. According to consensus theory, when a star uses up its hydrogen it contracts because radiation pressure no longer overcomes the gravity pulling its outer layers into its core. As that compression increases, internal pressure rises and heats up the star,…
In this Discourse David Talbott extends his review of the ancient “labyrinth” theme, suggesting that a concrete explanation could lie within our reach: “It should go without saying that, in the absence of a concrete referent, such storytelling will appear to have no believable interpretation. But if we tentatively grant…
It seems that the labyrinthine dance of the hero Theseus, as cited in our previous Discourse, gives us some powerful clues as to the extraordinary celestial events from which the underlying mythic archetype emerged. The “dance” had its own unique and awkward form called the Crane Dance, made famous by…
Jul 5, 2019 More data analysis from the Dawn spacecraft. Vesta experienced some powerful forces. There are craters more than 50 kilometers in diameter on its surface, even though it is a mere 564 kilometers by 531 kilometers. There is a particularly large crater near Vesta’s south pole that is…
Jul 4, 2019 Gas giant planets exhibit extreme weather. The fastest winds ever recorded on Earth was a 372 kilometer per hour gust on Mount Washington, New Hampshire in 1934. Tornadoes and hurricanes can achieve higher average velocities for short periods, but the maximum 24 hour speed record of 205…
