Nick c Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 7:30 pm Post subject: more Holmes 17P Reply with quote From the Knoxville News Sentinel: Scientists speculate the comet has exploded because there are sinkholes in its nucleus, giving it a honeycomb-like structure. The collapse exposed comet ice to the sun, which transformed the ice into gas. "What comets do when they are near the sun is very unpredictable," Lewis said. "We expect to see a coma cloud and a tail, but this is more like an explosion, and we are seeing the bubble of gas and dust as it expands away from the center of the blast."
No surprises here...that "Scientists" would come up with such a lame explanation. The phrase "near the sun" is a relative term but it is a stretch to call an object between the orbit of Jupiter and Mars "near the sun." What's the temperature out there anyway? Must be pretty hot to cause the dirty snowball to explode! and form a gaseous sphere larger than Jupiter, all this from what is basically an object a few miles across. Hmmm....I was born at night, but not last night.
Question: Is what we are seeing only reflected light from the Sun? or is their any intrinsic light being emitted by the "gaseous ball?" i.e. is the comet's plamasphere in the glow mode? There must be some data that could determine if this is the case...anyone know?
StefanR
Re: Recovered: Holmes gets very bright
DustDevil Sun Nov 04, 2007 4:37 am Post subject: Re: more Holmes 17P Reply with quote nick c wrote: . . . Question: Is what we are seeing only reflected light from the Sun? or is their any intrinsic light being emitted by the "gaseous ball?" i.e. is the comet's plamasphere in the glow mode? There must be some data that could determine if this is the case...anyone know?
Yes, Comet Holmes' coma is emitting light.
From StephanR's previous post: Quote: The dust reflectance dominate the inner region, but the C2 band emission is now evident - it is the explanation for the green color of outer part of the comet. (bold emphasis added)
Here's an explanation of the significance of the C2 band emission from a Hubble Telescope press release from 1996 about Comet Hyakutake:
Quote: The Mystery of Diatomic Carbon Another spectroscopic program, by Michael A' Hearn of the University of Maryland, will map the comet's emission in the light of the diatomic carbon (C2) molecule. Optical light from C2 is one of the strongest emissions in comets, but astronomers have not yet been able to tell where the C2 is coming from. (C2, itself, is probably not present in the nucleus. The C2 is likely produced by the breakdown of a more complex carbon-bearing molecule in the nucleus.) By simultaneously observing both the ultraviolet and visible emissions from C2, the team hopes to gain insight into the origin of this important cometary molecule. (bold emphasis added)
I have no idea how long it will take before we get to see these Hubble images, but at least they've been taken.
Hopefully, there will also be tasking for Chandra and GALEX to image this "life time astronomical event" along with all the major earth based telescopes equipped with "Lucky" cameras.
So far, the amateurs are leaving the pros in the dust with this one.
StefanR
Re: Recovered: Holmes gets very bright
Mgmirkin Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:06 pm Post subject: Re: Science-y talk time... Reply with quote Seems to have gotten lost int he shuffle above:
mgmirkin wrote: So, it seems that the largest event for the solar wind occurred mid way through the 25th. It appears that density, speed and temperature all jumped pretty dramatically at about the same time. I'm assuming this was from a solar flare, CME or similar event?
But it appears that Holmes began to respond [on the 23rd-24th] before the solar wind measurements dramatically increased. This makes me suspect that whatever caused the events affected the comet BEFORE it affected the sun. To me, personally, this suggests that the cause may have been external to the system, as opposed to internal. Consider, what would happen if the external current were to jump up a notch or two. Would the sun be affected first, or would the comet?
Perhaps there was an external surge. The inflow of current caused the comet to begin brightening on the 23rd, jumping from 18th to 8th magnitude between the 23rd and the 24th.
Consider that then the external currents' effects may have reached the sun and then "bounced," so to speak. If the timing was just right the external inflow of current would perhaps have bumped the comet from 18th to 8th magnitude. Then caused a flare or CME on the sun, which would have also impacted or effected changes on the comet, bumping it from 8th magnitude to 3rd - 2.5th magnitude...?
I don't know if I'm completely off base here. But it seems to me that whatever affected the comet did so fully a day before it affected the sun.
That might also explain the stepped pattern of the Temp, Speed, & Density mesurements. Notice how they appear to spike, drop slightly, then spike even higher? Then eventually fade away. Is that consistent with a single event, or a series of events?
Something to chew on, eh?
Am I completely off base here? Just wondering... Don't know if the scenario warrants an explanation similar to the above or not? It just seems odd that Holmes brightened ahead of apparent changes in the solar wind (as opposed to after; though it does appear to have gone through several step-up events, one of which being coincident with or just after the solar wind increase, but the initial jump being almost a full day prior, if I read the graphs right).
Again, if I'm completely off base, feel free to smack me upside the head for reading too much into the graphs...
StefanR
Re: Recovered: Holmes gets very bright
Steve Smith Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:21 pm Post subject: Shine Reply with quote Double D,
Yes, a carbon filament light bulb, or maybe a gas discharge tube filled with glowing carbon and other elements. Since the EU version of a comet is that it is acting as an electrode within a fluctuating electrical environment, then the kinetic gas ideas, the solar heating ideas and the impact ideas are probably rabbit trails. Newton is not who we ought to go to for the explanation, but Maxwell and Faraday. I'm sure nearly everyone here will agree.
It would interesting (and very difficult) to plot the exact positions of Hale-Bopp (which is still discharging), McNaught (with a 170 million kilometer tail) and any periodic comets that are within the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Since electrical forces are what create and stabilize orbits within the solar plasmasphere, it may be that the various comets and asteriods are in a diffuse field of their own creation.
Comets and asteriods are also thought to be rather recent phenomena in EU theory. The events that sculpted the planets blasted giant chunks into space forming comets, meteors, asteroids and moons. Phobos and Deimos are big pieces of Mars — probably out of Valles Marineris. That explains why comets are diminishing. Old records seem to indicate far more frequent appearances.
So what would cause a chunk of rock with little water and a microgravity field to suddenly emit light? Tempel 1 demonstrated that a small object can create a large plume of finely divided dust and a bright light, but the effect fades almost at once.
Could another dark object have come close to Holmes 17P and the two of them are exchanging charge potential? There does seem to be an asymmetric nucleus and at least one jet. Perhaps they are two objects.
Is there a remnant cloud of hydrogen ions from a previous solar flare drifting in space and the negatively charged comet has attracted it? McNaught modulated the solar ion stream...
Are there such things as plasma filaments emenating from the sun so powerful as to be spinning flux tubes extending millions of kilometers from it? And can such double layer tubes carry enough current to cause the comet to electrically overload so that it enters glow discharge mode? Or so that it fragments from electric stress and arcs among the pieces?
Maybe more information and more detailed images will help.
StefanR
Re: Recovered: Holmes gets very bright
Michael Mozina Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 9:40 pm Post subject: Re: Shine Reply with quote Steve Smith wrote: Double D,
Yes, a carbon filament light bulb, or maybe a gas discharge tube filled with glowing carbon and other elements. Since the EU version of a comet is that it is acting as an electrode within a fluctuating electrical environment, then the kinetic gas ideas, the solar heating ideas and the impact ideas are probably rabbit trails. Newton is not who we ought to go to for the explanation, but Maxwell and Faraday. I'm sure nearly everyone here will agree.
I think we have to be careful however that we can honestly and reliably rule out a Newtonian explanation. In other words, a direct collision with another object could in theory release a similar amount of energy, and that will ultimately be the "mainstream" explanation that they come up with unless I'm mistaken and suddenly they all have a change of heart about the electrical nature of the universe.
Whatever strategy we come up with will necessarily need to deal with, and eliminate a Newtonian solution. From a purely scientifically neutral perspective, we also have to be sure that this event was not due to a collision with another object.
Quote: It would interesting (and very difficult) to plot the exact positions of Hale-Bopp (which is still discharging), McNaught (with a 170 million kilometer tail) and any periodic comets that are within the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Since electrical forces are what create and stabilize orbits within the solar plasmasphere, it may be that the various comets and asteriods are in a diffuse field of their own creation.
IMO the dynamic nature of the solar atmosphere would preclude the asteroids (or even planets) from being inside fields that are particularly stable, or entirely of their own creation. I would not expect the EM fields around objects to be stable, but rather I would expect them to be varied, depending on the solar wind conditions at that time, and the current flow through that region during that time. Perhaps I'm not fully understanding what you mean about "a diffuse field of their own creation" however.
Quote: Comets and asteriods are also thought to be rather recent phenomena in EU theory. The events that sculpted the planets blasted giant chunks into space forming comets, meteors, asteroids and moons. Phobos and Deimos are big pieces of Mars — probably out of Valles Marineris. That explains why comets are diminishing. Old records seem to indicate far more frequent appearances.
I'm not sure that I buy into the idea that comets are a rather new phenomenon in EU theory. I tend to lean the other direction in fact. I would assume that many comets and heavy solar system objects are directly related to a supernova event that took place about 4.6 billion years ago. I'm open to the notion that they can could form in other ways as well, but I have always assumed that comets have been around as long as planets have been around. They should decrease in numbers over time as some of them intersect with planets, but many of them could have a relatively long life span.
Quote: Could another dark object have come close to Holmes 17P and the two of them are exchanging charge potential? There does seem to be an asymmetric nucleus and at least one jet. Perhaps they are two objects.
Any sign of significant fragmentation could also indicate a direct hit with another object. Your explanation is statistically more likely than a direct hit however, and I tend to be leaning in that direction, even if there were two objects involved.
Quote: Is there a remnant cloud of hydrogen ions from a previous solar flare drifting in space and the negatively charged comet has attracted it? McNaught modulated the solar ion stream...
I do think it's possible that the sun kicks out clouds of highly charged particles, but at that distance, I don't think that a diffuse cloud would do the trick. I would think it would require a type of current carrying filament to achieve that kind of brightening. A Birkeland "cathode ray" might do that, and a z-pinched filament might do that, but I'm skeptical as to whether a thin cloud of hydrogen plasma could accomplish a million fold increase in photon output.
Quote: Are there such things as plasma filaments emenating from the sun so powerful as to be spinning flux tubes extending millions of kilometers from it?
Quote: And can such double layer tubes carry enough current to cause the comet to electrically overload so that it enters glow discharge mode? Or so that it fragments from electric stress and arcs among the pieces?
IMO, if there are lots of "pieces" involved in what's left, that would tend make it very difficult to distinguish between a direct physical hit, and a huge current discharge. Even I might tend to favor the former explanation depending on the direction of the ejection cone of the material.
If the ejected material was due to an electrical discharge, I would expect a current flow of that magnitude would have been active over a very large distance. It should have been able to be seen in higher energy wavelengths, with visible streamers flowing though the comet. If the main event was a relatively instantaneous discharge however, we might not see much evidence of it now, or even see it a few hours after the main event. Quote: Maybe more information and more detailed images will help.
Steve
I hear you. I'm particularly interested in seeing the Hubble images.
Quote: The LARSON-SEKANINA filter This is the most used filter for the morphological study of comets. .... In the case of zero radial shifts, we increase the contrast of all those details that have an gradient of brightness with respect to the origin of our polar system of coordinates (the false nucleus); these enhanced details are generally jets erupting from the nucleus. In the figure it's evident the principal jet that arise from the origin of the tail and crosses the whole quadrant to the up left corner of the image. This gradient, calculated in correspondence of the points P-P1 and P-P2, has enhanced the contrast of the main jet arising from the nucleus of the comet, while on the other side of the coma it allows to glimpse some weak fountain structures that would also be able to originate from points with elevated activity on the surface of the nucleus. http://users.libero.it/mnico/comets/ls.htm
Quote: have imaged the comet with a C8 @ f6 and Artemis285 camera tonight (43x40sec) . The images have been calibrated, aligned on the comet core and stacked. the stacked image has been subject to RGRADIENT processing in IRIS. The result is a lot of details visible http://arnholm.org/astro/deepsky/17p_holmes/
Quote: Larson-Sekanina is very good but it's a strong filter and can produce a number of side effects that look like cometary structures but aren't. I'm not convinced that the structures that I've seen around many L-S filtered images are real. The two biggest problems with the filter are that the two variables that control it can produce wildly varying results with just a small tweak and the filter does produce convincing looking artifacts. For example, I would be very suspicious of the effects in the lower left of your L-S coma (that's not a criticism of you, just an observation ). It would be useful to try L-S on a standard calibrated 'coma' created with PhotoShop and see what it makes of it.
MGmirkin Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:53 am Post subject: Re: Science-y talk time... Reply with quote biknewb wrote: mgmirkin wrote: Again, if I'm completely off base, feel free to smack me upside the head for reading too much into the graphs...
Cheers, ~Michael Gmirkin
Had been reading things into the graphs myself when I said biknewb wrote: Looking at the dates in the graphs, it seems more likely that the brightening caused the spike.
This seems like an advantage for the mainstream view if they use the graph to show the "explosion" caused the spike. But then they would admit the electrical connection of the two events Very Happy Twisted Evil Very Happy wouldn't they?
But I guess my question is one of whether both the comet and the solar wind changes were predicated upon an external source, somewhat independently. IE, is it simply the comet and the sun interacting? Or is there an external event that moved inward first interacting with the comet, then with the sun, causing the comet to undergo changes before the sun itself was affected, and then perhaps the effect on the sun had a secondary effect (again) on the comet...?
May be off base. Just seemed suggestive to me that the comet did things before the sun, making me think that things were happening outside-in rather than inside-out. (Or perhaps both at different times...?)
But then I was also pointed recently to the fact that the comet may have a rather odd orbit with respect to the ecliptic, etc. Anyone have orbital data and/or angle data?
StefanR
Re: Recovered: Holmes gets very bright
FS3 Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:58 pm Post subject: Larson-Sekanina filter Reply with quote Here's another one...
StefanR wrote: ok DATA-BONANZA!!!...
...Some Larson-Sekanina processing. Note the quasi annulus structure and presence of jet. The covered field is 4.4' x 4.3'.
Nick C Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:50 pm Post subject: more thoughts on Holmes 17P Reply with quote We have already read speculations that Holmes' outburst may possibly be the result of a collision. This seems highly unlikely. Let us not forget that the outburst in the 1890's was followed by another outburst, that is, there were two flare ups in the 1890's. It is a stretch of probabilities that these outbursts as well as the present outburst are the result of collisions. And to make it even less likely, Holmes is not in the ecliptic, where most orbits of solar system objects are located. That brings up the question, from an EU standpoint, what factor is this off the ecliptic position vis a vis electrical stress on the comet? It is my understanding that the satelites of a primary assume their positions as a result of the least action interaction with each other. Presumably this not only determines their orbital positions in terms of distances from the primary as well as distances between other satelites in the system, but there must also be electrical forces which give "incentive" to locate in the ecliptic. Excuse me for not using technical language, but could Holmes be receiving a "nudge" from the Sun, telling it that it is in the danger zone?
StefanR
Re: Recovered: Holmes gets very bright
Krackonis Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:09 pm Post subject: Re: more thoughts on Holmes 17P Reply with quote nick c wrote: We have already read speculations that Holmes' outburst may possibly be the result of a collision. This seems highly unlikely. Let us not forget that the outburst in the 1890's was followed by another outburst, that is, there were two flare ups in the 1890's. It is a stretch of probabilities that these outbursts as well as the present outburst are the result ..... ....... be electrical forces which give "incentive" to locate in the ecliptic. Excuse me for not using technical language, but could Holmes be receiving a "nudge" from the Sun, telling it that it is in the danger zone?
Perhaps, like Saturn, the electrical path of least resistance is along the plane of the eliptic. Perhap the "magneticly held currents" above and below this plane is what this comet is currently flying thru. This currently could be bend to link to a planets north pole, or perhaps be extending out the heliopause.
StefanR
Re: Recovered: Holmes gets very bright
SeaSmith Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:21 am Post subject: Reply with quote Solar wrote: Quote: Which is why I agree that it could be the heliospheric current sheet. It crossed out of the plane of the elliptic and into an area of greater current density and as result has formed a rather large space-charge sheath which would normally be seen as a tail were it closer to the sun.
[ That's a great view of the comet's space-charge sheet, posted by FS3 ]
Steve Smith wrote: Quote: Since electrical forces are what create and stabilize orbits within the solar plasmasphere, it may be that the various comets and asteriods are in a diffuse field of their own creation.
One might substitute "create and stabilize orbits" with ' conduce and stabilize'. We know from launching our own satellite projectiles, that the initial entry and acceleration/direction vector of an object in to a (solar) system will very greatly influence it's resulting orbit or impact. As for the comets' unpredicted electrical displays, recall that the Heliosperic current sheet assumes the "ballerina skirt" configuration- with associated current waves and charge reversals.
Quote: Shown is an artist's sketch of the major electrical current sheet separating regions of the Sun's magnetic field lines (not shown) in sectors and the plasma sheet (in color) surrounding the current sheet, in the region around the Ecliptic plane in the solar wind from the Sun to the Earth (the blue and green sphere). The former is called the heliospheric current sheet and is warped in such a way that a spacecraft at Earth sees it almost periodically, since the spacecraft would be in or very near the Ecliptic plane, and the sheet moves around faster than Earth, which we know takes one year to complete one revolution. [The Ecliptic plane is the circle in which Earth is shown moving.] The base of the sheet at the Sun takes 25 days to complete one rotation, and the whole sheet almost follows that timing, but it is more like a big wave moving out (i.e., it is not rigidly rotating). The heavy arrows represent this sheet's rotation. The Sun is tilted by 7.5° with respect to the ecliptic plane, and the "dipole" shaped source of the Sun's magnetic field has an axis of symmetry that is usually quite well displaced from the Sun's rotation axis. This lack of alignment among these entities is partly responsible for the warping. Also shown, as a protrusion in the front, is a portion of the current sheet showing the outward flow of current in the sheet, as small outward arrows (appropriate for this particular position or sector). These arrows could have been shown inward for other positions around the sheet, since they alternate in sign in an almost periodic way, just as the sighting of the sheet itself. The plasma sheet, which is also warped, is shown in yellow (low density of plasma) and orange (high density) around the current sheet. This plasma concentration, representing the solar wind density as the wind flows outward, is usually quite irregular, but has the tendency to be the highest where the field lines coming from the Sun are weakest, i.e., there is an approximately inverse relationship. Since the field lines carry a form of pressure, then the net pressure, field plus plasma, is approximately constant as we go azimuthally into and out of these plasma peaks and valleys. This current sheet/plasma sheet is the largest structure occurring (periodically) in the solar wind between the Sun and the Earth. There are other large structures, occurring transiently, that are seen in this region, but of somewhat smaller scale. But there are many other waves and field/plasma structures at other length scales in the solar wind.
Michael Goodspeed Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 6:26 am Post subject: Reply with quote The (Electric) Comet Holmes By Michael Goodspeed Thunderbolts.info
"It's a mystery to me how comets work at all." --Donald Brownlee, principal investigator of NASA's Stardust Mission
No phenomenon in the observed Universe has been a source of more continuous surprises than comets. In fact, despite the exterior confidence by astronomers and astrophysicists that "all is well" in mainstream cometology, researchers have been so baffled by unexpected discoveries that conventional comet theory no longer exists! "We have now had four close encounters with comets, and every one of them has thrown astronomers onto their back foot." -Stuart Clark, New Scientist, September 09, 2005.
Yet comets are still touted as "Rosetta Stones" allowing us to decipher the formation of the solar system. The "dirty snowball" hypothesis, considered theoretical bedrock for decades, has failed resoundingly at predicting comet behavior and, more recently, comet composition.
The most dramatic surprises began in 1986 with the discovery of negatively charged ions in the coma of Comet Halley, the signatures of energetic electrical activity, and the absence of water on the nucleus. In subsequent years, comets have produced a steady stream of "mysteries" that have left astronomers groping for answers:
1. Highly energetic supersonic jets exploding from comets' nuclei 2. The inexplicable confinement of these jets into narrow filaments, spanning great distances, up to MILLIONS of miles, defying the behavior of neutral gases in a vacuum. 3. Jets occurring on the dark sides of comet nuclei. 4. Comet surfaces with sharply carved relief — the exact opposite of what astronomers expected under the "dirty snowball" model. 5. Unexpectedly high temperatures and X-ray emissions from cometary comas. 6. A short supply or complete absence of water and other volatiles on comets' nuclei. 7. Mounting evidence for the production of the OH radical in cometary comas, due to charge exchange with the Sun (the process that misled astronomers into thinking they were seeing evidence of water removed from the surface.) 8. Mineral particles that can only be formed under extremely high temperatures — the last thing one would expect from a chunk of dirty ice arriving from the outermost reaches of the solar system. 9. Comets flaring up while in "deep freeze," beyond the orbit of Saturn. 10. Comets disintegrating many millions of miles from the Sun. 11. Comet dust particles more finely and evenly divided than is plausible for sublimating "dirty ices." 12. Ejection of larger particles and "gravel" that was never anticipated under the idea that comets accreted from primordial clouds of ice, gas, and dust. 13. The unexplained ability of a relatively minuscule comet nucleus to hold in place a highly spherical coma, up to millions of miles in diamater, against the force of the solar wind.
All the above findings pose enormous problems for the "dirty snowball" model; all are predictable features of the electric model. Nevertheless, the odds are pretty good that you have never even HEARD of the electric comet hypothesis (although had you lived in the 19th century, when astrophysical journals frequently discussed the electric properties of comets, you might have). This is because the space sciences throughout most of the 20th century have been constructed on the theoretical assumption that bodies in space are electrically neutral. An electric comet would strike at the foundations of the theoretical sciences today.
The Electric Universe views comets as negatively charged bodies moving through the radial electric field of the Sun, the most positively charged object in the solar system. The most energetic cometary displays occur with comets that spend the most time in the outer regions of the solar system, where they acquire a strongly negative charge. As they race toward the Sun, moving into a more positively charged environment, the nucleus will be subjected to increasing electrical stresses, eventually beginning to discharge.
But what might occur with a shorter-period comet that does not move on a highly elliptical orbit? It happens that presently, we are witnessing an excellent example accompanied by many enigmas. In the past two weeks, the Comet Holmes 17P has made international headlines with an energetic outburst that has left astronomers speechless. The website skyandtelescope.com has called it "the weirdest new object to appear in the sky in memory." "For no apparent reason," the comet began to increase in luminosity, rapidly brightening from 17th magnitude to about 2.5 — approximately a million-fold increase in brightness. This is the not the first such outburst by the comet — its discoverer Edwin Holmes witnessed a similar brightening in 1892 followed by a second eruption 2-and-a-half months later.
In the span of a few days, the comet's coma grew to such an enormous and bright disk that it could be seen with the naked eye, though it never gets as close to the Sun as the planet Mars, and when it suddenly erupted, it was moving AWAY from the Sun.
As the structure of the coma has clarified itself, jets have appeared streaming away from the center. The source of the jets is entirely enigmatic, if not preposterous through the lens of the usual comet assumptions.
"This is truly a celestial surprise"..."Absolutely amazing", said Paul Lewis, director of astronomy outreach at the University of Tennessee.
The reason for astronomers' amazement is that, given the comet's distance from the Sun, solar heating cannot offer a plausible explanation for the eruption. Worse than that, it has been moving AWAY from the Sun! So now, astronomers trying to explain these anomalies have begun grasping at straws. After a bit of hair tearing, the most common speculation is that the source of the outburst is "sinkholes" in the comet nucleus. But the trivial, almost immeasurable, gravity of a comet could hardly justify this "explanation" — no force is available to cause the surface to "sink"!
The only other "explanation" could be that another object struck the comet, a scenario that, by the astronomers' own estimates, is virtually inconceivable.
If, however, cometary displays are almost exclusively due to electrical stresses, the question remains as to why a comet moving AWAY from the Sun might exhibit a sudden discharge. In the case of Comet Holmes, one might suppose that neither the conventional view of comets nor the electric hypothesis can explain what we're seeing. But in fact, the electric view, based on new knowledge of the solar system environment, does offer a plausible interpretation of Holmes' behavior.
In its most recent visitation, the comet Halley provided an important clue. As it moved away from the Sun out beyond the orbit of Saturn, Halley experienced a major eruption that not only remains unexplained today, but seems to have conveniently slipped from astronomers' memory. Other comets such as Hale-Bopp began erupting "prematurely," while still in the icy depths beyond Jupiter's orbit. And numerous comets have exhibited unpredictable outbursts exceedingly difficult to explain in terms of an evaporating chunk of ice. And several comets have, quite unexpectedly, exploded into fragments. (See When Comets Break Apart, http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2006/ ... comets.htm)
In electrical terms, such unpredictable behavior can be related to the breakdown of the plasma sheath that forms around a charged body in space. This behavior is well documented in the laboratory. A plasma sheath insulates the charged body from the charge of the surrounding plasma, and across the wall of the sheath, called a "double layer," there is a strong electric field. But when that wall breaks down, the result can be an explosive instability with accompanying electric discharge. In other words, the charged body may exhibit little unusual behavior until the breakdown occurs.
Such a breakdown can be provoked as one plasma sheath penetrates into another. This phenomenon seen in the laboratory draws our attention to the structure of the Sun's plasma environment and to the unique plasma sheaths of the planets themselves. Wherever our probes have taken us, we have found new levels of structure, all with electrical implications. Within the "magnetosphere" of Venus, astronomers were amazed to find coherent ropes or "stringy things." The New Horizons probe found curious cellular blobs moving down the vast plasma tail of Jupiter. The Sun itself is immersed in plasma structure with boundaries and double layers, a laboratory in space for intense investigation today.
So what might have happened to Comet Holmes? It is not a typical comet. The eccentricity of its orbit is minimal. It is always outside the orbit of Mars and inside the orbit of Jupiter. In fact, it is virtually as close to being an asteroid as it is to being a comet. And astronomers are slowly realizing that the distinctions between asteroids and comets are not as clear as they had once believed. Occasionally, asteroids sport cometary tails, like the asteroid Chiron, which was seen to develop a tail while orbiting between Saturn and Uranus around 1988 and 1989. It is now officially classified as both an asteroid and a comet. Since the electrical stresses on Holmes would be minimal, much like those on asteroids with modestly elliptical orbits, it is not unreasonable to assume that its plasma sheath remains largely undisturbed — unless it penetrates into or is penetrated by another sheath with sufficient differential across its double layer to cause an explosive breakdown.
It's interesting to note that the diagram of Holmes' orbit shows that it crossed the ecliptic (the plane of the planets movement around the Sun) quite close to the time of its closest approach to Mars. So it is certainly conceivable that Mars' own plasma sheath, by penetrating that of Holmes, provoked the fateful breakdown. Though this would not qualify as a coherent hypothesis today, it is the kind of issue raised by the electric model that is systematically ignored by mainstream astronomers.
As of this writing, the space science community has fallen virtually mute on the enigma(s) of Comet Holmes. Comet science is in an undeniable state of crisis, and nothing short of an intellectual revolution will save officialdom from irredeemable embarrassment. It is the hope of the electric specialists that the failures of the standard comet model, so nakedly obvious in the face of discovery, will inspire astronomers and astrophysicists to reconsider the real-world disciplines of electrodynamics and experimental plasma science — disciplines that should not have been excluded in the first place.
StefanR
Re: Recovered: Holmes gets very bright
Ion01 Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 6:48 am Post subject: Reply with quote Awesome write-up!!! A couple of things you may, or may not, want to add to the list that the standard model cannot explain. There is so much information regarding comets it is almost impossible to get it all down.
(I am just summorizing so if you choose to use them you may want to reword them. You obviously have a much deeper knowledge of such thinks.) Comets tails reacting to CME's which are not supposed to have enough mechanical effect to do so. http://www.thunderbolts.info/forum/phpB ... =comet+cme
I am more than sure you are aware of all these but maybe you just hadn't thought of them or you chose to exclude them for whatever reason. Just thought I would through them out there just incase.
