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CK Vulpeculae is the oldest reliable documented nova. It was discovered on June 20th, 1670.
It had a brightness maximum of approximately magnitude 3
at its discovery and then subsequently faded.
A secondary maximum of 2.6 was recorded the following year.
In 1981 a point source near the center of the small nebula was identified as
CK Vulpeculae, with an estimated red magnitude of 20.7. Later observations cast doubt on the
identification and this is still something that is open to debate.
Current consensus is that the star sits behind the remnant of a nova
and that it is this that causes them to vary dramatically in brightness.
The object remains a mystery: something causes the star to go from invisible
to easy naked-eye viewing and then also cause the formation of the nebula we see today. Some have
suggested that it was formed when a brown dwarf formed close to a white dwarf
and was torn apart. Other ideas were also proposed, involving two stars colliding.
All these ideas were based on the idea that the nebula was only 2,000 light years away.
The problem is, it is extremely difficult for them to measure the distance to this object.
Based on a series of new observations, they now think that it is actually
10,000 light years away - five times further. This does present another problem, as now
it seems that that event in 1670, has to be far more energetic
and the outflowing gas must also be moving faster to have reached the outer lobes. The
nebula consists of a compact central object with what they see as outflowing gas.
A compact radio source is seen at the center of this nebula,
as well as an infrared point source, but this has not been detected at any
optical wavelengths. So, how did they end up with such a difference in terms of distance.
They analyzed the gas velocity of the lobes by examining the redshift of the emitted light.
This gave them a staggering speed of over 2,100 kilometers per second. By examining
the different observations taken a decade apart, they can also see that the gas has
visibly moved, or changed shape. They were able to measure the amount it
moved and using the speed calculations, this meant that the only way they could reconcile this data,
was by placing the nebula over ten thousand light years away.
Five times further away would mean that the event that caused it,
would have to be 25 times more energetic. And this rules out any kind of stellar merger
and it is 15 times more energy than is released in the normal nova.
But it's still much less than a supernova. This places it in a rather awkward place.
It is not really clear what could have powered such an event.
So is there a different way that we can look at this? I recently covered the rapid fading nebula
on “See The Pattern” and we stated that these types of nebulae in the Electric Universe
are caused by a part of the filament going into glow mode due to an increased current density
caused by a Z-pinch. This is why they tend to create the classic hourglass shape.
When I examined the fading nebula, we saw astronomers were describing large
changes to the shape of the nebula. But what they were actually seeing was
the majority remaining static, and parts of the filament receiving less illumination,
as the power suddenly faded. The first part we must address is the sudden change in their distance
calculation. Their new measurements give a high value for the speed at which the gas is
thought to be moving. This measurement is obtained from redshift data of the emission lines of
the gas. In a separate piece of data they state they saw a change in the shape of the lobes
over a 10-year period. When we examine the images, it is hard to see
any change in the shape. But the reality is that they claim to see a change in the shape
of only 2/360th of a degree. And when we examine the older image from
2010, this equates to about one pixel difference. When we examine the
2010 image, we can also see that this in itself is very grainy and lacks the detail that we see in the
later image. So I would really question their ability to see this change,
rather than seeing noise in the original image. Let's just assume that there is indeed a
small change in size. Why did this cause the nebula to be placed five times further away?
Here the problem is that the redshift data from the lobe tells them
a certain velocity for the gas that is moving. The comparison of the images then
tells them that this gas moved at this velocity for over 10 years and covered the distance
in the image. At this speed it would mean that it could only happen if the nebula was
much further away than previously thought. This is all based on the assumption
that the nebula is created by an explosive event that pushes all the material outwards,
creating this shape. The lobes are the end points of this expansion. So, they extrapolate from these
to draw their conclusions. In the Electric Universe these nebulae
are created in a totally different way. We know that plasma flows in large filaments across the universe.
These will tend to form a Birkeland current structure. This is a force-free alignment and
allows them to travel with very little energy loss across vast distances. When we examine the
structure of Birkeland currents produced in the lab by the likes of Anthony Peratt,
we clearly see that these form into shells and that these shells then contain
a series of smaller filaments. Z-pinches are instrumental in the
formation of stars along these filaments. We see these stars forming into the
filaments and we can trace parts of these Birkeland currents, using
their magnetic fields and radio emissions.
So, when we examine supernova explosions we also find that they line up with a
galaxy's magnetic field, like cosmic compasses tracing the Birkeland current filament's direction.
Stars are connected via these filaments: these power the stars. Stars are created in a
compression of these filaments called a Z-pinch. Normally, the current that flows through
a star is low enough that you will never actually see the filament itself.
Under certain circumstances this can change. If the current density increases beyond
a certain point, this plasma can go into glow mode and start emitting light.
The cylinders surrounding the pinch will be lit up and this is why we see
this shape so often when we examine planetary nebulae. So, how could we explain what is going on
in this nebula and account for both the sudden appearance, the shape
and the redshift data that points to very fast outflowing gas.
Let's start with how this nebula might have formed. In all likelihood this is a star that
went nova back in 1670. Wal Thornhill's model of a nova event
would describe the events leading up to this as follows. A sudden increase in the
current density causes the star to become brighter, and output more material along its
equatorial plane. This eventually leads to an instability in the magnetic field around the star,
causing a sudden transfer of this stored energy into the poloidal field. This has the effect
of causing the star to develop jets, emitting from both poles,
rather than outputting material equatorially. As the material is ejected in a narrow
beam, it moves away from the star rapidly along the axis and much further out
starts to form a plasmoid, very similar to the ones we see in the
plasma gun experiments. These are fast flowing ionization emission regions,
or ‘fliers’ for short. They cause the outflow of plasma with low ionization, moving at supersonic
speeds near the central axis of the planetary nebula. We see these in many other examples of
planetary nebulae. These fliers represent a new load on the filaments
and will therefore also consume a large portion of the load that was destined for the star.
This keeps the fliers in glow mode and causes the star to become much dimmer
and redder. The mainstream consensus is that this nebula is an expanding nebula.
So when they examine lobes, they are expecting to see gas moving away from the star.
In fact, when they measure the supposed speed of the expansion of the nebula
by looking at the redshift of the lobes, what they are actually measuring
is the speed of the outflow of material from these fliers. The outflow speeds are significantly
higher than the nebula in which they were embedded
and their ionization much lower. These are dense plasma focus effects similar to
those seen in the large plasma laboratories that Anthony Peratt and Eric Lerner were part of.
These devices were used to study the effects of plasma in certain environments and pioneered
our understanding of how plasma behaves in our universe. This nebula is not expanding in the way
that astronomers think it is. There is no need to place it five times further away to accommodate the
discrepancy between the shape and the speed of the gas in the lobes of the nebula.
These nebulae help us to see and study the electrical environments that stars are born and live in.
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