I originally posted this thread in a response to criticism from both inside and outside of the Electric Universe community directed at the Electric Sun hypothesis and had hoped to show that the concept as proposed by Ralph Juergens in 1972 has not been falsified by observations since that time. Minor modifications have been applied to the hypothesis which has led some to question its validity and claim there is no one all encompassing Electric Sun hypothesis- these minor modifications I sought to unify, the JMST Electric Sun model would simply become the Electric Sun model.
To my mind there is simply one Electric Sun hypothesis- that proposed by Ralph Juergens. Although Juergens was not the first to speculate on the source of the Sun’s radiant energy- Kristian Birkeland had done so some 70 years previous, nor was he the first to suggest that the Sun was highly charged (1) he did, however, realise the importance of the Sun’s environment and suggested that the photosphere was the
bottom of the phenomenon we call the Sun (2).
Like Juergens, I feel that it is the Sun’s environment –not a hidden dynamo, that determines the characteristics of not only the photosphere but the entire heliosphere and this is critical in understanding the Electric Sun hypothesis.
To summarise:
The Sun is highly negatively charged but the LISM (Local Interstellar Medium) carries an even greater negative charge, as a result and relative to its environment the Sun acts as an anode. The electrical pressure/ tension/ voltage is such that the Sun is compelled to accept electrons from the LISM and ultimately- the galaxy. As the Sun collects further negative charge it returns an electron-deficient current to the LISM- the FSW (Fast Solar Wind).
Recently, in the scientific media we have seen reports that Venus is losing oxygen from its atmosphere (
http://phys.org/news/2016-06-strong-ele ... heres.html) -an electric wind is sucking oxygen right out of the Venusian atmosphere into space! Of course ‘electric wind’ is just a euphemism for electric current.
Likewise, we find Earth is also losing material from its atmosphere (
http://astronomynow.com/2016/07/08/the- ... tmosphere/) with most of the mass-loss occurring at the polar regions- just where we would expect to find any incoming electric current (3).
An interesting finding from the
Ulysses mission was an anti-correlation that existed between solar wind speed and oxygen charge state temperature this relationship was so clear that charge states could be used to define the solar wind domains. At solar minimum (1995)
Ulysses found the highest oxygen charge state temperature at the Sun’s equator in the SSW (Slow Solar Wind), at solar maximum (2000/ 01) the highest charge state temperature was found during the spacecraft’s north polar pass- when the SSW dominated the heliosphere.
Does this relationship identify an ‘electric-wind’ that is stripping the Sun’s atmosphere of oxygen? We would never see a headline like this in the scientific media as it implies an external electrical circuit. Conventionally, this current is viewed as a ‘mass-loss’ from the Sun, as mentioned previously this ‘mass loss’ is negligible and just like at Earth we find it occurs at regions I consider are the foci of incoming electric current.
In driving electrons toward the Sun the tenuous LISM is ‘trying’ to force the charge density of the Sun to match that of its own, given the sheer size of the Sun this is almost a Sisyphean task and the solar discharge continues unabated.
The authors of this paper (4) note that the sector structure of the HMF is consistent up to and slightly beyond the Termination Shock, if we assume the HMF is the proper magnetic field of the incoming current then this observation is a strong indication that current is indeed arriving from beyond the heliosphere.
I have suggested that current from the LISM arrives in a narrow band appearing to rotate around the circumference of the heliosphere over a period of approximately 22 years on average, figures 3a and 3b from this paper (5) document this rotation and its effect on the solar magnetic field.
Data from the SWOOPS instrument on the
Ulysses spacecraft suggested that at solar minimum the heliosphere was pinched-in at low latitudes and took on an hourglass shape (6). Therefore, it would appear that incoming electrons are confined in a ‘sheet’ the HCS (Heliospheric Current Sheet) and HPS (Heliospheric Plasma Sheet) that can ‘compress’ the heliosphere into an hourglass shape; even so this sheet is not strictly a sheet as it has been known to fragment into cylinders (7) and is formed of countless ‘flux-ropes’ displaying a ‘spaghetti microstructure’ (8, 9) it is here that we find the SSW.
The SSW (FSW) is characterised by its velocity of approximately 400 km/s (750 km/s), temperature of 1,600,000K (800,000K) and its coronal (photospheric) composition (10). In both the FSW and SSW ‘mass density and momentum flux’ are carried by the electron-deficient current away from the Sun, whilst electrons ‘carry approximately half of the thermal energy of the plasma’. So, electrons carry thermal (random motion) energy- where do we find the highest solar wind temperature? Counter intuitively it is in the SSW. From this paper (11) we read: ‘
Figure 1a shows a noticeable bifurcation of Te (electron temperature) into hot and cold branches at distances around r ≈ 3–4 AU. This appears to be a solar cycle effect, since the lower values are more dominant during 1996 (solar minimum) and the higher values are more favoured during the two solar maximum periods (1991 and 2000) and, to a lesser extent, the post-maximum phase (1994). The higher Te data points at 3–4 AU also exhibited slightly higher electron densities ne than the cooler data points. Thus, the lower values seem more appropriate to be applied to studies of the ambient fast solar wind associated with polar coronal holes at solar minimum.’
Keep in mind that this paper looks at the ‘cool’ FSW, why would we see hot electrons in the ‘cool’ FSW?
We find hot electrons in the FSW during solar maximum precisely at the time that the FSW effectively disappears, when the HCS/ HPS is highly inclined and the SSW dominates the heliosphere. This implies that the SSW is slow and hot because of collisions between an inwardly directed electron current and an outwardly directed electron deficient current, absent an inward electron current and all we find is the FSW.
The Corona, SSW, HCS/ HPS form a continuum that links the Sun to the LISM and galactic power supply.
As I have mentioned before mainstream science views many of the features of the Sun and heliosphere to arise via the action of a hidden dynamo, consider this from the authors of ‘The Solar Activity Cycle: Causes and Consequences’: ‘
It is generally agreed that the timing engine in the Sun causes a nearly periodic generation and evolution of magnetic fields in the solar interior and on the solar surface, more explicitly, that a dynamo mechanism generates the Sun’s magnetic field.’
Amid all this certainty we then learn that: ‘
The nature of the solar dynamo remains difficult to determine.’
The nature of the dynamo is difficult to determine because it does not exist.
Although I have focussed mainly on the cyclical nature of the incoming current I believe an external source of solar energy rather than an internal one can explain some puzzling features associated with the Sun.
Despite its appearance the Sun is actually asymmetrical and its behaviour asynchronous. Northern and southern hemispheres differ, for example, in radiance, solar wind speed, cosmic ray modulation, we find that sunspots form at high to mid-latitudes then migrate towards the equator whilst prominences and filaments form at the equator and migrate towards the poles, different regions of magnetic polarity form at different times in different hemispheres, active regions arise at specific longitudes 180 degrees apart and at solar minimum the HCS/ HPS can be off-set into one solar hemisphere (the so-called ‘Bashful Ballerina’ phenomenon). Analysis of the solar cycle suggests periods of ‘grand minima and maxima’ but unlike the solar cycle these periods are ‘not driven by cyclical variability, but by a stochastic or chaotic process’ (12).
Although, the Sun being a charged rotating body would generate an intrinsic magnetic field, I believe that the type of phenomena - listed above- are best explained by the Sun being a focus for an external helical current, the focal point of which, on the solar surface, is not precisely fixed either spatially or temporally. Any intrinsic magnetic field, whilst it may contribute to some secondary phenomena (13), is simply overwhelmed by the HMF and given the orientation of the Sun’s rotational axis relative to the galactic equator hemispheric differences would be expected.
The upcoming
Solar Orbiter and
Solar Probe Plus missions will undoubtedly reveal many new details about the Sun, however, recent findings closer to Earth have revealed how charged bodies are electrically connected to their environment, will these probes reveal just how the Sun is connected to its environment? I suspect they will only confirm it.
References:
(1) Bailey. V.A, ‘Existence of Net Electric Charge on Stars’, Nature, vol. 186, May 14 1960 (Bailey concluded that the Sun carries a net negative charge in the order of 10
19 volts).
(2) Juergens. R. E, ‘The Photosphere is it the Top or the Bottom of the Phenomenon we call the Sun?’, Kronos, Vol. 4 No. 4, Summer 1979.
(3) At the reported rate of mass-loss Earth’s atmosphere would take over 150 billion years to completely deplete. (4) Mursula. K. et al, ‘The wide skirt of the bashful ballerina: Hemispheric asymmetry of the heliospheric magnetic field in the inner and outer heliosphere’, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 117 No A08104, August 2012.
(5) Sanderson. T.R et al, ‘Observations of the Sun’s magnetic field during the recent solar maximum’, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 108 No A1, January 2003.
(6) McComas. D. J. et al, ‘The three-dimensional solar wind around solar maximum’, Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 30, No 10, 1517
(7) Wang. Y.M et al, ‘Evidence for Two Separate Heliospheric Current Sheets of Cylindrical Shape during mid-2012’, The Astrophysical Journal, 780: 103, January 2014.
(8) Kahler. S. W. et al, ‘Probing the magnetic polarity structure of the heliospheric current sheet’, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 108 No A8, August 2003.
(9) Borovsky. J.E, ‘Flux tube texture of the solar wind: Strands of the magnetic carpet at 1 AU?’, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 113 A08110, 2008.
(10) Feldman. U. et al, ‘On the sources of fast and slow solar wind’, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 110 A07109, July 2005.
(11) Cranmer. S.R. et al, ‘Empirical Constraints on Proton and Electron Heating in the Fast Solar Wind’, The Astrophysical Journal, 702: 2, August 2009.
(12) Virtanen. I, ‘Asymmetry of the Heliospheric Magnetic Field’, Department of Physics, University of Oulu, Finland, Report No. 84, 2013.
(13) Here, for example, is it possible that an intrinsic magnetic field may account for the phenomenon whereby opposite sunspot polarities lead in opposite solar hemispheres- thus affecting incoming current at the level of the photosphere?