To see a Sun in a grain…
One of Robert Johnson’s original critical points of the JMST Electric Sun hypothesis was that the ‘EU model’ was self contradictory:
“The EU model is based on the work of Hannes Alfvén and Ralph Juergens who both argued that electric currents are important in the Solar System, but both had differing views on where those currents flow. Alfvén suggested that the Heliospheric Current Sheet is part of a circuit in the heliosphere. Near the Sun, the current splits into North and South components which then flow along the meridians towards the poles.
“Birkeland Currents flow from each pole, and the circuits close at some unspecified distance from the Sun. Alfvén’s current does not enter or leave the photosphere and the direction of the current changes in alternate solar cycles.
“In contrast, Juergens argued that the photosphere is a region of anode tufting and therefore current must always be flowing through the photosphere into the body of the Sun, which he identified as the anode.” (1)
It is the premise of this thread that the two dissimilar models, those of Alfvén and Juergens, can be reconciled. I have suggested that the solar cycle is a product of varying Birkeland Currents focussed on the Sun producing a pseudo-Alfvén circuit and a Juergens circuit. New evidence offers the prospect that such a proposal is not contradictory and contrary to Robert Johnson’s assertion that “…Judged by any reasonable criterion, the model is dead”, the JMST Electric Sun hypothesis is very much alive. (2)
From rice grains to granules
Forty years ago Ralph Juergens provided a brief description of the origin of the term granule, now commonly used to describe features of the photosphere: “For some years this puzzling, composite quality of the photosphere was referred to as its "rice-grain structure". From this evolved the more prosaic terms
granulation — used with reference to the overall graininess — and
granule — the designation for an individual "rice grain" or puff of plasma. So, now one speaks of a photosphere that exhibits granulation in its texture, or consists of millions of individual granules.” (3)
Until recently granulation was believed to be a feature uniquely identified with the photosphere, new data now suggests otherwise.
Woodgrain and STEREO-A
A recent paper documents a study of the solar corona by the
STEREO-A spacecraft, the study has revealed a corona far more complex than the researchers could imagine, so much so they contemplate “…unresolved physics in the vicinity of 10R
S from the Sun.” (4)
The new study spans a three day period in April 2014 during solar maximum, what is interesting is that image processing revealed “…a highly filamentary and intermittent fine-scale structure within the coronal streamers.” (5) I have used such terminology before, at solar maximum current is no longer focussed at the Sun’s polar regions and becomes highly filamentary at lower latitudes.
The authors noted: “A striking aspect…is the ultra-fine radial structure of the outer corona, which contains both the familiar striae on 1-2 degree scales in the position angle…and also far finer striae, with the anisotropic appearance of grain in a rip-cut hardwood board. The large-amplitude portion of this structure is apparent in…but the “woodgrain” appearance extends to yet smaller scales”. And “We infer that the fine-scale (“woodgrain”) structure…is real and not modified noise, and reflects highly inhomogeneous density structure in the outer corona, with fluctuations of the order of 10× the average density on scales below 0.2 degrees of azimuth. This structure has not been visible in prior studies, primarily because it exists well below the noise floor of most coronagraph images”. (6)
This is not the first time ethereal structures have been found in the solar corona, four years ago a group led by the new report’s lead author found “…myriad diffuse inbound features in the lower corona…” (7) The earlier study took place around solar minimum, in April 2007 and it was found that “…Superposed on the large-scale pattern is a lower amplitude, more complex background signal that is present at all azimuths…this background signal is present both in the streamer belts and in the coronal holes…the background signal, which has a complex character that at first glance is difficult to distinguish from noise. There is a strong characteristic speed to the background, as evidenced by the long, narrow appearance of individual fluctuations. These have a characteristic inbound speed of 40-90 km/s…” (8)
Inbound features in coronal holes are somewhat of a puzzle as inbound features were thought to be associated with the streamer belt, as expected magnetic reconnection comes to the rescue: “…reconnection inside coronal holes in the outer reaches of the corona has been recently invoked by Tenerani et al. as an explanation for inbound features seen in this altitude range”. (9)
From woodgrain to rice-grain
STEREO-A has revealed the corona to be far more complex than previously thought plus a possible connection with the photosphere itself. “…We observed a continuous azimuthal spectrum of radially aligned density structures down to scales of approximately 20Mm at 10R
S. With direct radial expansion, such structures would correspond to 2Mm (∼2–3 granule) magnetic domains at the surface of the Sun… This implies source structures in the chromosphere no larger than 300 km, or under half a granule, in scale. If in fact these smallest observable outer-coronal structures are directly connected to individual granules, changes on the granulation timescale ought to be directly observable; contrariwise, if chromospheric and coronal effects dominate the connectivity, the granulation timescale should not be particularly special”. (10)
The ethereal filamentary structures in the outer corona may be directly connected to individual granules in the photosphere, “In the case of the outer corona, these individual dense strands are small enough that they could, in principle, correspond to individual granules or individual intergranular flux concentrations…” (11)- if this is so it would, indeed, appear to be a Juergens type circuit.
Magnetic Carpet ride
The structure of the outer corona appears highly filamentary: “This implies that the solar wind passing through the outer corona is far from homogenized; individual magnetic flux systems may carry different, nearly uncoupled streams of solar wind even as far out as 10–15R
S, providing a myriad of possibilities…”, so much so that “…the very fine woodgrain structure, support a magnetic picture of the young solar wind as a “mat” of tangled magnetic carpet flux structures, each carrying relatively independent streams into the heliosphere, rather than as a smooth flow through the outer corona”. (12)
We can now picture the pseudo-Alfvén circuit and the Juergens circuit. The very interstellar currents which provide the Sun with its radiant energy arrive preferentially at the Suns polar regions (13) the currents become increasingly filamentary as they approach the solar surface taking on fractal characteristics- showing more and more structure at smaller and smaller scales. Away from the polar coronal holes we see the same picture for the Juergens circuit, again filamentary currents in the corona become increasingly filamentary, again showing more and more structure as they approach the solar surface.
This phenomenon was observed at both solar minimum and solar maximum. As acknowledged by the authors of the paper the woodgrain structures of the corona may very well correspond to the rice-grain structures of the photosphere, if so we would have a direct link between the Sun and its environment, the environment from which it derives its characteristics.
With the JMST Electric Sun hypothesis very much alive we await the next generation of spacecraft to study the Sun in ever increasing detail…
References:
1. Johnson. Robert. 2013. The Nature of the Sun reconsidered.
Electric Universe 2013: The Tipping Point, Albuquerque, New Mexico 3-6 January 2013.
2. Johnson. Robert. 2017. The source of the sun’s electrical activity.
SIS Autumn Meeting, 7 October 2017.
http://www.sis-group.org.uk/event/2017- ... eeting.htm
3. Juergens. Ralph. E. 1979. The Photosphere is it the top or the bottom of the phenomenon we call the sun?
Kronos. Volume 4, Number 4. 1979
4. DeForest. C. E. et al. 2018. The Highly Structured Outer Solar Corona.
The Astrophysical Journal, 862:18, 2018 July 20.
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.38 ... ac8e3/meta
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. DeForest. C. E. et al. 2014. Inbound Waves in the Solar Corona: A Direct Indicator of Alfvén Surface Location.
The Astrophysical Journal, 787:124, 2014 June 1.
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.10 ... 2/124/meta
8. Ibid.
9. op cit. 4.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. at Solar Minimum.