Jul 15, 2016 Is the Universe expanding? Edwin Hubble first identified what he thought was the Doppler effect in faint galaxy images. The observation is known today as “redshift”. However, rather than the result of acceleration and distance, it may be that it is an intrinsic property of matter….
Jul 5, 2016 Galactic dust is often filamentary. Plasma is electrically ionized. By definition, electrons are stripped from atomic nuclei in plasma, since electron orbital dynamics can be overcome by thermal and other energy sources. When regions in plasma develop excess charge, due to gravity or other influences,…
Jun 24, 2016 Space and time do not bend. “Gravitational lensing” theory is used to explain the arcs of glowing material surrounding some galaxies. They also use it in conjunction with other theories to help deal with puzzling observations. One of those puzzles involves the so-called expanding Universe. Combining…
Jun 6, 2016 Are spiral galaxies really elliptical? Dr. Anthony L. Peratt, a plasma physicist and protégé of the Nobel laureate Hannes Alfvén, studied plasma formations in the laboratory for many years, monitoring short-duration z-pinch effects, as well as creating particle-in-cell animations using the best supercomputers available. He concluded that galaxies, rather…
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…
Apr 14, 2016 Is it going to be a dark future? “Don’t wake me for the end of the world unless it has very good special effects.” — Roger Zelazny Since the early days of cosmological speculations, especially after the introduction of Big Bang theory, three competing ideas about the…
Mar 11, 2016 Where do galactic clumps and filaments come from? One proposal suggests that galaxies are drawn toward the center of galactic clusters through gravitational attraction. What is termed, “blow-back force” by astronomers supposedly pushes galaxies out and away from the direction of travel like a vast comet…
Mar 7, 2016 The Big Bang theory states that for some reason (not explained) an irruption of energy from some other realm replaced “nothingness” with what was to become the present Universe. The theory was proposed because Edwin Hubble, using the recently completed 100-inch telescope at Mt. Wilson observatory,…
Feb 19, 2016 Braided filaments stitch the Universe together. The Herschel Space Observatory was launched on May 14, 2009 into an orbit around LaGrange point L2 (behind Earth in relation to the Sun). Herschel’s supercooled infrared detectors were built to last only three years, so its cooling system has long since failed….
Feb 11, 2016 Does gravity power stellar behavior? Modern astronomical models of cosmic evolution rely on the kinetic effects of cold gas collapsing from gravitational forces. Clouds of gas and dust a thousand times less dense than a puff of smoke are said to be compressed into a region…
