May 31, 2016 Galaxies are threaded through with filaments. The Herschel Space Observatory was launched with the largest spaceborne mirror ever constructed: 3.5 meters in diameter. Herschel was set to orbit around LaGrange point L2 in July 2009, to protect its liquid helium-cooled infrared detectors. However, Herschel’s helium coolant…
May 30, 2016 Astronomical research tends to instigate foregone conclusions. The Picture of the Day never considers questions that requires a search for subjective meaning in the Universe. Analyzing the observations from NASA and others is enough, in most instances, to draw correspondence between theories in peer-reviewed journals and…
May 26, 2016 Ionized particles from the Sun constitute the solar wind. In an electric Universe, plasma discharges are a better model for solar activity than the consensus community likes to accept. Experiments using a positively charged sphere show that a plasma torus forms above the sphere’s circumference. Charged…
Originally published Dec 17, 2007 Cloud formations often exhibit structure that could be the result of something other than blowing winds. Does ionized plasma actually shape the clouds? The Picture of the Day will be on a short hiatus, returning May 27, 2016. In the interim, please enjoy this…
May 24, 2016 Pluto’s potato-shaped moon. The New Horizons space probe flew by the dwarf planet Pluto on July 14, 2015. Its images of Pluto and Charon, along with infrared and spectral analyses, will provide planetary scientists with enough data to keep them occupied for years to come. More…
May 23, 2016 Electromagnetism rules the Universe. Birkeland currents transport electric charges through space along twisting electromagnetic filaments that can span intergalactic distances. They are seen at all cosmic scales because almost every celestial object in the Universe is filamentary. Planetary nebulae are webs of lighted tendrils; energetic galaxies…
May 20, 2016 Bands of plasma circle the Earth. Earth’s ionosphere is connected to the Sun by filaments of electric charge, so upper regions of the atmosphere are influenced by solar emissions. This idea is a basic tenet of Electric Universe theory. Since Earth has an electrically active plasmasphere,…
May 19, 2016 Stars are not constant. Attempts to locate planetary bodies in orbit around distant stars suffer from the “glare problem”: starlight tends to obscure direct observation of dim companions. A little over 18 years ago, astronomer Geoff Marcy and his team, using the 120-inch telescope at the Lick…
May 18, 2016 Another asymmetrical moon of Pluto. NASA launched the New Horizons mission on January 19, 2006. Nine years later, the spacecraft flew by the dwarf planet Pluto on July 14, 2015. Infrared and spectral analyses should provide data sufficient to keep planetary scientists occupied for years. An…
May 17, 2016 Electric stars in an electric Universe. The Nebular Hypothesis is considered the sine qua non of consensus star-forming theory. When a star condenses out of primordial material, it is thought that the remaining clumps of dust and gas that are not absorbed swirl around, attracting more…
