Original Post January 21, 2013 Did meteor bombardment scar Phobos? Phobos is the largest of the two moons of Mars. Deimos is so small that studying its surface has been problematic for astronomers because it cannot be readily observed from Earth. Only the Viking 2 orbiter, and more recently,…
Original Post January 14, 2013 Extreme magnetic fields in space are said to be caused by the high-speed rotation of neutron stars. Several previous Picture of the Day articles discuss the problem of neutron stars and how they affect the progress of astronomical investigation. According to electric star theory,…
January 7, 2013 Was the early Universe powered by “dark matter annihilation”? According to modern cosmologists, the Universe is composed primarily of dark matter. More than 95% of all that exists is unseen and undetectable by the most sensitive instruments yet devised. Many astrophysicists claim that the earliest stellar…
Original Post December 31, 2012 Problems with various theories could be resolved if mistaken identity were considered. It has been demonstrated over the centuries that the worst possible witnesses in court are often those who were present at the scene of the crime. There are documented cases of people…
Mars is alive with geophysical activity. Geophysics means the study of Earth’s physical processes. For planetary scientists, the idea of such processes occurring on Mars was once highly improbable, if not unthinkable. Mars has no coherent global magnetic field, an atmosphere one half of one percent as dense as Earth’s,…
Original Post December 13, 2012 Wind socks, bow shocks, shockwaves and collisions are often used to describe the phenomena that create high-frequency electromagnetic radiation in the cosmos. From gamma rays down through X-rays and extreme ultraviolet, conventional theories have relied upon gravity and acceleration as the only way for…
Original Post December 7, 2012 Electric double layers are like waterfalls that energize charged particles falling through them. “We have to learn again that science without contact with experiments is an enterprise which is likely to go completely astray into imaginary conjecture.” — Hannes Alfvén A double layer forms in…
Original Post December 3, 2012 Is there frozen water on Mercury? Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate…
Original Post November 22, 2012 Venus will transit the Sun on June 5, 2012. Venus and Earth describe a unique orbital configuration with respect to the Sun. The resonance between the two planets is readily apparent when a plot of their movements is made over the course of eight years. Every…
Original Post November 6, 2012 A galaxy-wide filament connects two galactic clusters. The Herschel Space Observatory possesses the largest mirror ever launched into space: 3.5 meters in diameter. Herschel entered orbit around LaGrange point L2 (behind Earth in relation to the Sun) in July 2009, so that its extremely…
