Welcome to Space News from the Electric Universe,
brought to you by The Thunderbolts Project™
at Thunderbolts.info
On this series, we've explored the significance of common forms and shapes
seen throughout the cosmos.
Plasma, the fourth state of matter, pervades all of the universe
and the unique structures produced in plasma laboratories
are clearly seen at all scales in space.
From the filamentations seen everywhere in the universe,
from the giant snake-like filaments reaching from the surface of the Sun
to the dark cores of sunspots,
to the networks of long thin filaments along which stars form
like pearls on a string,
to the hourglass shapes of nebulae
and the similar double-lobed form that appears to be the common shape of comet nuclei,
a form reliably produced by the electromagnetic z-pinch effect in plasma,
and even the spiraling structures achieved by parallel currents in the laboratory
uncannily matching the form of the spiral galaxy.
Plasma particle beams also produce distinct geometric shapes
that can prove difficult or even impossible to explain through non-plasma processes
when seen in nature.
One such shape is the hexagon or polygon
which is a generally straight- edged closed-plane form.
The hexagonal craters commonly observed on planets and moons
challenge planetary scientists
since kinetic impact experiments do not produce such craters.
However, as seen in these experiments by Jacob Gable,
it is a form routinely produced by electrical discharge to a solid surface.
Another hexagon in nature has puzzled astronomers since its discovery decades ago.
As far back as 1988, scientists studying data from the Voyager mission
found evidence for a hexagonal atmospheric structure at the North Pole of Saturn.
Decades later, NASA's Cassini-Huygens spacecraft shared with the world
the first complete images of the bizarre cloud pattern.
Planetary scientists have struggled for an explanation
since the form is not seen in any other planetary atmosphere.
But in recent years, simple fluidic experiments on Earth
have succeeded in producing a hexagonal structure
providing an explanation that planetary scientists have heretofore favored.
However, Thunderbolts picture of the day managing editor Stephen Smith
outlines just some of the problems with this theory in a recent article.
He writes,
"The fluid dynamic experiment seems to provide a plausible description
of what is happening on Saturn if several factors are ignored.
First, there are concentric rings around the hexagon,
each with different temperatures.
Second, Saturn's North and South Poles are hotter than theories predict.
Third, there are aurorae at the poles.
Fourth, there are powerful currents of electric charge
entering and leaving Saturn's poles,
connecting it to its family of moons.
As previous Picture of the Day articles argue,
the plumes of Enceladus, for instance,
demonstrate that charge exchange between it and Saturn."
Recently, scientific reports have pointed definitively
toward a non-fluid dynamics explanation.
As reported on September 6 2018 on sciencealert.com
"There's something strange over Saturn's north pole.
A tremendous structure towering high above the clouds
indicates that the planet's peculiar hexagonal formation
is much, much bigger than was initially apparent."
In 2014, scientists using Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer
had begun studying Saturn's northern stratosphere,
a region hundreds of kilometers above the atmospheric hexagon.
The shocking discovery came
when they began observing a vortex far above the famous hexagon.
One of the investigators says of their discovery,
"As the polar vortex became more and more visible, we noticed it had hexagonal edges,
and realized that we were seeing the pre-existing hexagon
at much higher altitudes than previously thought."
As acknowledged in the Science Alert article,
"...since wind conditions change dramatically with altitude,
the fact that the hexagon shape persists so much higher than the cloud tops
is a baffling conundrum."
The Electric Universe position has always been
that the key to understanding Saturn's hexagon
is the planet's electrical connection to the Sun.
The so-called magnetic ropes that have been discovered
stretching the nearly 900 million miles from the Sun to Saturn,
are one clue to this connection.
The Sun is primarily an electrical phenomenon
at the focus of a galactic "glow discharge"
and electric currents flowing from the Sun to planets
has implications for many atmospheric phenomena
including the tremendous winds of gas giant planets
and also jet streams and weather patterns on Earth.
Based on this perspective, in 2005, physicist Wal Thornhill made a prediction
that could only seem preposterous from a conventional viewpoint.
Thornhill analyzed the mysterious hotspot in the vortex at Saturn's South Pole.
The hotspot puzzled planetary scientists
because, as described by the Keck Observatory,
"...both the distinct boundary of a warm polar vortex some 30 degrees latitude
from the southern pole and a very hot 'tip' right at the pole
were completely unexpected."
Thornhill wrote of this feature,
"Its compactness is due to the electromagnetic pinch effect
where it enters Saturn's atmosphere."
He then stated,
"The Electric Universe also predicts, experimentum crucis,
that BOTH poles should be hot, not one hot and the other cold."
In 2008, the Cassini spacecraft confirmed the astonishing prediction.
Astonishing because the freezing cold North Pole
had been deprived of sunlight for more than 12 years.
Thornhill explained,
"The polar hot spot and the long-lived hexagonal feature
result from a continuous electric current
flowing from the Sun into the pole of Saturn."
On the peculiar hexagonal form, consider the side-by-side images on your screen.
On the left are vortices of an electron beam etched onto a carbon witness plate.
On the right are vortices of an electron beam photographed on a fluorescent screen.
The hexagonal form is a distinct feature of a well-documented plasma phenomenon
called 'The Diocotron Instability'
and the phenomenon observed in the laboratory is remarkably scalable.
As noted by Dr. Anthony Peratt in 'Physics of the Plasma Universe',
"The vortices of the diocotron instability are found to occur
over 12 orders of magnitude in beam current.
This mechanism was first introduced to explain auroral curtains by Hannes Alfvén."
The persistence of the hexagonal feature, hundreds of kilometers above the Saturnian clouds,
is the clearest possible indication it is being driven by energy from above
and cannot be explained by simple fluid dynamics.
But the basic concept of electric currents flowing from the Sun
interacting dynamically with electrically charged bodies,
remains a road to new theoretical pathways
that planetary scientists have yet to follow.