May 04, 2012

Enceladus continues to provide evidence supporting Electric Universe theories.

On March 2, 2012 the Cassini-Solstice spacecraft flew by Saturn’s moon Enceladus at a distance of 74 kilometers, the closest it will come for the next three years.

Cassini again passed over the “superheated geysers” erupting from the south polar region of this frozen moon. One of the focal points of its trajectory was the “tiger stripe” sources of hot vapor erupting into space and contributing to Saturn’s rings. Several anomalous aspects to the plumes of gas jetting out of the tiger stripes suggest to Electric Universe advocates that the region is experiencing plasma discharges because of Saturn’s electric circuit with Enceladus.

Mission scientists jumped to the conclusion that liquid water beneath the surface must be responsible for both the temperature anomaly and the jets because solar radiation and internal heating are the only energy sources that are allowed in their theories. Solar heating is completely inadequate because the moon is so far away from the Sun. Although the south pole of Enceladus is warmer than “it should be” it is still – 261 Celsius. As the image at the top of the page reveals, the south pole is cracked and scarred, with several crater chains.

Electric arcs excavate surfaces in ways that cannot be duplicated by slow geologic process. Grooves and trenches left by arcs will typically reveal little or no residual material within the trenches, as if a claw simply descended from above to scoop material away. Arcs can produce entwining rope-like trenches where undulating discharge filaments move across the globe. Gouges are cut lateral to the surface without the crustal movement required by fracturing.

Some planetary scientists have suggested that Enceladus experiences a libration, or a nonuniform rotation, because of its response to Saturn’s gravitational torque. Such a libration could produce tidal stresses, generating strike-slip faults and lateral displacement. However, no such “forced libration” has been observed and no lateral displacement can be seen.

It bears repeating that the hot poles of Enceladus were a surprise to NASA investigators. “This is as astonishing as if we’d flown past Earth and found that Antarctica was warmer than the Sahara,” said John Spencer, an astronomer from the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado. So-called “tidal kneading” as a source of heat fails because the theory has no explanation for why the effect is limited to the southern hemisphere. It appears that the same problems that confront comet investigators are confronting the Cassini mission. It also appears that they are using the same shaky theory of narrow surface vents above a subsurface chamber of hot water. There is no evidence for such vents, either on comets or on Enceladus.

Electric Universe theorist Wal Thornhill has emphasized that the hot plumes move across the surface because they are being created by electric discharges. Electric arcs produce the plumes, and are creating the channels as they excavate material from the surface, accelerating it into space.

A parallel to the Enceladus plumes is provided by the “volcanoes” on Jupiter’s moon Io. The bright plumes on Io moved many kilometers across the surface during a few decades, excavating material and accelerating it upward.

The jets on Enceladus originate from the deep tiger stripe channels that look similar to those that can be found on Jupiter’s moon Europa. The tiger stripes are part of a vast and intricate complex of channels on Enceladus that match perfectly the behavior of electric arcs in simple laboratory experiments.

Stephen Smith

Now Available – Seeking the Third Story DVD

2 Lectures by David Talbott

According to author David Talbott, all of human history can be seen as just two stories.

First, came the story of ancient mythology, when towering gods were said to have ruled the world. Then came the story of science, emerging from a growing distrust of the myths and a new emphasis on direct observation and reason.

But a third story is possible, according to Talbott, one that sees the underlying provocation of the myths in extraordinary electrical events occurring close to the Earth. To be believed, a third story must be more coherent and more meaningful than either archaic religious mythologies or the modern mythologies of popular science.

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