May 09, 2013

One of the largest “active galaxies” is thought to be powered by a supermassive black hole. Electrical energy is a more likely driving force.

A recent press release from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) announces that the elliptical galaxy Centaurus A is ejecting a light-years long jet of material because a “supermassive black hole [is] at its heart”. Astronomical theories state that the radio-bright nucleus and the jet come from the compression of interstellar material as it is drawn into a central black hole possessing a mass greater than 100 million average stars.

From gamma-rays down through X-rays and extreme ultraviolet, conventional theories have relied on gravity and acceleration for radiation to be produced in space. Compressing hydrogen gas and dust is supposed to create enough transfer of momentum that it reaches temperatures in the millions of degrees. That high temperature is supposed to make the gas and dust glow brightly and emit high-frequency radiation.

Since the idea that electricity flows through the Universe is commonly met with resistance by today’s consensus, its influence and attributes are unseen. It has long been said that “seeing is believing”. However, it should not be surprising that “believing is seeing” appears to be more apt. When there is no inner experience, outer realities can often remain invisible.

Electric currents surge out along galactic spin axes, forming double layers that, like those in Centaurus A, can be seen as radio “lobes.” The electric charges spread out around the galactic circumference, flowing back to the core along the spiral arms. Since the elements in a galactic circuit radiate energy, that energetic radiance shows that they are powered by larger circuits. The extent of the larger circuits may be traced by radio telescopes through the polarized radio “noise” coming from them.

The fact that moving charges constitute an electric current that can generate magnetic fields has been known since the days of Michael Faraday. However, a lack of appropriate training often means a lack of vision. As previously stated, moving charged particles constitute an electric current, and that current is wrapped in a magnetic field. When more charged particles accelerate in the same direction, the field gets stronger.

Something that researchers do not consider is that for charged particles to move, they must move in a circuit. Energetic events cannot be explained by local conditions, alone. The effects of an entire circuit must be considered. For that reason, while the consensus scientific worldview only permits isolated “islands” in space, the Electric Universe emphasizes connectivity with an electrically active network of “transmission lines” composed of Birkeland current filaments.

Double layers and plasmoids expand and explode, throwing off plasma that can accelerate to near light-speed. Jets from opposite poles of a galaxy end in energetic clouds emitting X-ray frequencies, or radio waves. Those phenomena are based in plasma science and not gas kinetics, gravity, or particle physics. Astrophysicists see magnetic fields but not the underlying electricity, so they are at a loss to explain them.

Astronomers maintain that galaxies are clouds of hydrogen gas and intergalactic dust that were assembled by gravity until they coalesced into glowing thermonuclear fires. The conventional community also proposes that most galaxies contain black holes of unbelievable magnitude. It is those “gravitational point sources” that are supposed to cause the galaxies to spin, jets of gamma-rays to appear, and the radio lobes to form.

The Electric Universe theory does not adhere to the idea of galaxies condensing out of cold, inert hydrogen and specks of zircon no bigger than a molecule. So, what are galaxies?

In 1981, Hannes Alfvén said that galaxies are much like one of Michael Faraday’s inventions, the homopolar motor. A homopolar motor is driven by magnetic fields induced in a circular conducting plate. The plate is mounted between the poles of an electromagnet, causing it to spin at a rate proportional to the input current.

Galaxies move within filamentary circuits of electricity that flow through the cosmos from beginning to end. We see the effects of those electromagnetic fields because electricity organizes itself within masses of plasma sometimes larger than galaxy clusters. That plasma is primarily composed of neutral atoms, but free electrons, protons, and other charged particles are also present.

Plasma’s behavior is governed by those circuits. Double layers with large voltages between them often exist. The electric forces in double layers are incomparably stronger than gravity. Double layers broadcast radio waves over a wide range of frequencies. Most significant to the ESO bulletin, they can accelerate charged particles to extreme energies.

This vision of the cosmos sees various components coupled to and driven by circuits at ever larger scales, so electrons and other ions accelerated through intense electric fields radiate “shouts” of energy in many bandwidths. It is that story that should be told and not the one about omnipotent gravity.

Stephen Smith