INTEGRAL gamma-ray image showing
isotopic aluminum-26 distribution
in the galactic plane. Credit: CGRO/COMPTEL
�
Nox Aeterna
Apr 01, 2011
Do so-called "accretion
disks" around presumptive black
holes generate gamma-rays?
�Now it is quite clear to me that
there are no solid spheres in the
heavens, and those that have been
devised by the authors to save the
appearances, exist only in the
imagination.�
--- Tycho Brahe
On October 17, 2002 the European
Space Agency (ESA) launched the most
sensitive gamma-ray observatory ever
sent into space, the INTErnational
Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory.
Its 10,000 kilometer perigee and
153,000 kilometer apogee means that
the spacecraft spends most of its
time outside of Earth's obscuring
radiation belts. INTEGRAL will
remain funded until December 2012.
According to a recent
press release, INTEGRAL
has observed intense gamma-ray
emissions from the Cygnus X-1 star
system. As prevailing lore states,
Cygnus X-1 is a stellar binary with
one companion being a black hole and
the other a blue supergiant known as
HDE�226868, and is one of the
strongest X-ray sources ever
detected. The fact that the two
objects radiate at high frequencies
and with great intensity provides
support for an interpretation based
on the tenets of an Electric
Universe.
Consensus thinking creates a
stellar wind from the blue
supergiant star that then collects
around the black hole, forming an
accretion disk, where it orbits at
such a high speed that it heats up
to temperatures in excess of 10
million Kelvin. It is that fast, hot
stellar material that is supposed to
generate X-rays. The latest
observation suggests that gamma-rays
originate from the same matter
stream
However, Cygnus X-1 possesses
another bizarre structure that is
not readily explicable using black
hole physics: a bipolar jet.
Explaining the jets of ionized
particles seen emanating from
various objects in space is one of
the most difficult tasks facing
modern astronomy. What force creates
energetic particle beams spanning
light-years? What confines them into
narrow filaments?
Hundreds of stellar jets have now
been observed since Cygnus X-1 was
first seen in 1964. The prevailing
theory of "compact gravitational
point sources" heating gas and dust
in an accretion disk does not
address the existence of collimated
jets. There is only one force that
can hold such a structure together:
magnetism. The only way to generate
the magnetic fields necessary for
bipolar jets is with electricity
flowing through space.
The two lobes of Cygnus X-1's
radio jet represent a cone of plasma
viewed from the side. It is an
example of a stellar scale dense
plasma focus or "plasma gun."
Surrounding the stellar binary is
what should more properly be called
an "expulsion disk," rather than an
"accretion disk." Also, plasma arc
discharges are known to generate
high-energy ultraviolet light. The
more electric current supplied to
the arc, the higher the frequency.
If enough power is supplied, X-rays
and gamma-rays can be generated.
Standard cosmological theories
are hard-pressed to match models
with observations. X-rays from ion
excitation, a range of energy
curves, and (sometimes) gamma-rays
are all properties of lightning
bolts. Computer simulations
demonstrate that plasma phenomena
are scalable over several orders of
magnitude; they behave in the same
way whether in atoms or galaxies.
Perhaps the gamma-rays (and X-rays)
from Cygnus X-1 are really flashes
of cosmic lightning coming from
electrified clouds of plasma on a
stellar scale.
Stephen Smith
Hat tip to Wal Thornhill
New
DVD
The Lightning-Scarred
Planet Mars
A video documentary that could
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knew about ancient times and
symbols. In this second episode of
Symbols of an Alien Sky, David
Talbott takes the viewer on an
odyssey across the surface of Mars.
Exploring feature after feature of
the planet, he finds that only
electric arcs could produce the
observed patterns. The high
resolution images reveal massive
channels and gouges, great mounds,
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explanation in traditional geology,
but all matching the scars from
electric discharge experiments in
the laboratory. (Approximately 85
minutes)
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