The “first direct visual evidence of the supermassive black hole in the centre of the galaxy Messier 87.” © EHT Collaboration.



Apr 10, 2019

Holes in space and time?

“We should remember that there was once a discipline called natural philosophy. Unfortunately, this discipline seems not to exist today. It has been renamed science, but science of today is in danger of losing much of the natural philosophy aspect.”

— Hannes Alfvén

Consensus astronomers believe that gamma-rays, X-rays and radio waves are created by gravity and acceleration in space. Dusty clouds of hydrogen gas are supposed to reach temperatures in the millions of Kelvin, causing gas and dust to glow brightly and emit radiation. In that view, the most powerful radiation sources are those that achieve the greatest gravitational force.

Cygnus A is one of the first radio sources that revealed “jets and lobes” accelerating out of its nucleus. They are thought to result from material falling into a central black hole, where it is torn apart. Subatomic “debris” is then propelled out of the galactic core by some means not understood in consensus circles. It is suggested that spinning magnetic fields surround black holes, but the theory cannot be tested.

Among the many difficulties faced by mainstream astrophysicists is how magnetic fields can align and compress particle emissions into jets that maintain coherency. Radio jets from some galaxies reach out for over one million light years before they “disperse” into vast clouds of radio emitting particles, larger than their galactic sources.

Recently, the astronomical community announced their first “image of a black Hole”. Researchers from the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie (MPIfR) in Bonn, Germany, and the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), using the The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) captured what they believe is an image of a black hole. What is that visual evidence?

The press release states that “…a ring-like structure with a dark central region — the black hole’s shadow. This ring appears in multiple, separate observations using different imaging methods, making the scientists involved confident that they have indeed captured the shadow [of a black hole].”

An important factor missing in their observations is that the magnetic fields mentioned in the press release are electromagnetic and not simply magnetic. The only way to generate a magnetic field is with the flow of electric charge, or electricity. As written in previous Pictures of the Day, radio-bright celestial objects are not created in gravity fields, no matter how powerful. Laboratory experiments most easily produce them by accelerating charged particles through an electric field. Rather than gravity, an electromagnetic entity called a “plasmoid” is responsible for jets, lobes and other objects in space.

As far as black holes are concerned, there are no experiments that show evidence for matter collapsed to “near infinite density”. It is Bennet pinches (z-pinches) in plasma-state material that form plasmoids. When the electric flux inside double layers within galactic circuits gets too high, there is a sudden “short circuit” that draws energy from the surrounding space. That energy could be concentrated from hundreds of cubic light years and then discharged in a burst of cosmic lightning, generating X-rays or flares of ultraviolet light.

Instead of a black hole, a plasmoid in M87’s heart is ramping up charged particles, so electrons spiral in the electromagnetic fields and give off X-rays and radio emissions. The idea that electricity flows through the Universe is resisted by today’s consensus, so its influence and attributes are unseen. It is true that some astrophysicists discuss magnetism, and some even describe what they believe to be electric currents in galactic jets. It is not a widely accepted idea, though.

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, such as a theory, outer realities remain invisible. Such is the case with cosmic electric fields and the flow of electric charge through the Universe.

Stephen Smith

Hat tip to William Thompson