A picture and essay from the perspective of the Electric Universe.
Oct 2, 2018 Magnetic reconnection does not drive electromagnetic events. Upper regions of Earth’s atmosphere are influenced by solar emissions, because the ionosphere is connected to the Sun by filaments of electric charge. At 150 kilometers altitude, Earth’s electromagnetic field exhibits the greatest conductivity in what is called the…
Oct 1, 2018 A ring of gas and stars is said to be orbiting the Milky Way. Galaxies are mysterious. Astronomers are still not sure if they are a rotating collection of individual stars held together by gravity, or if they are a discrete object, behaving as a whole. Consensus…
Sep 28, 2018 Hot spots on the gas giant planets are really very cold. NASA scientists have been puzzled by Saturn’s hot north pole, although the term “hot” is relative. The average temperature at the pole is around minus 200 Celsius. The northern latitudes of Saturn were hidden from…
Sep 27, 2017 Martian meteorites are most likely a few thousand years old, at most. The Martian lithosphere is composed of iron and silicon, although they are primarily bound with oxygen. Silicon dioxide and iron oxides are the main constituents of Martian regolith. The atmospheric density on Mars is…
Sep 26, 2018 Methane dust on Titan? NASA launched the Cassini-Huygens mission on October 15, 1997. The six ton orbiter was the largest satellite ever deployed, entering orbit around Saturn on June 30, 2004. Its name was changed twice during its run: Cassini Equinox Mission on July 1, 2008, following…
Sep 25, 2018 The search for water on Mars continues. According to a recent press release, Mars may not possess the large quantities of water-ice that previous observations suggested. Data provided by the Mars Express orbiter points to, “ice-free, porous, windblown sand” and not subsurface ice. Thomas R. Watters,…
Sep 24, 2018 Five surface instruments are scheduled for Ryugu. The Hyabusa 2 spacecraft is orbiting asteroid 162173 Ryugu, where, on September 21, 2018 it released two landers. Known as MINERVA-II, they “hop” from place-to-place on the surface. Since Ryugu’s gravity field exerts a mere .00012 m/s² acceleration (80,000 times…
Sep 21, 2018 Jupiter generates its own power. On August 5, 2011 NASA launched the Juno mission to Jupiter. It is currently analyzing Jupiter’s massive plasmasphere, along with its electromagnetic field. Jupiter radiates more energy in the infrared than it receives from the Sun, so astronomers think that it is…
Sep 20, 2018 Reflective mineral deposits on Ceres. NASA launched the Dawn spacecraft on September 27, 2007. After its observations of the asteroid, Vesta ended on September 5, 2012 Dawn headed toward Ceres. Dawn encountered the largest known asteroid in the Solar System on March 6, 2015. The mission officially ended…
Sep 19, 2018 The mission is winding down. On September 27, 2007 NASA launched the Dawn spacecraft. After observing the asteroid Vesta, Dawn headed toward Ceres. Dawn encountered the largest known asteroid on March 6, 2015, where it remains in orbit. The mission officially ended in June of 2016, but was…
