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I think you will find that it is you, Astyanax, who do not have any real understanding in cosmology. NASA and all the other space agencies worldwide know, anyone working with nuclear explosions knows, anyone who has ever seen plasma and seen images of galaxies and nebulae, know.
Originally posted by Astyanax
Here, take a look at this: Image search results for 'petroglyph'.
As you'll see if you look through those results, petroglyphs come in a very wide variety of shapes. It is true that a few of these do resemble plasma discharges, but most don't. Even the ubiquitous 'squatter man' glyph, the one Peratt and company liken to a 'Z-pinch discharge' in the OP link, appears more often than not in a form that makes it much clearer that the intended representation is not of some great glowing shape in the sky but simply a man with exaggeratedly large genitals.
I'm not saying our ancient ancestors didn't see some crazy, catastrophic auroral event in the sky. I don't know enough to say that; maybe they did. And it's certainly fun to visualize all those cavemen staring up in wonder at some great, glowing mystery in the heavens. But there are simpler and more likely explanations for petroglyphs, and we should always consider these first before letting ourselves be seduced by more exotic possibilities.
Now what these guys are saying, basically, is that tens of thousands of years ago, something happened in the sky to cause parts of Earth's atmosphere to become hugely ionized--anything from ten to a hundred times more strongly charged than even the strongest solar wind today can make them. The result, they reckon, was a lot of huge, bright, freaky patterns in the sky--patterns that follow the characteristic shape of strong plasma discharges, such as spirals, and filamentary discharges that can sometimes look a lot like the very common 'squatting man' petroglyph.
So, did it happen? Did our ancestors look up and see strange glowing shapes in the sky (possibly accompanied by sounds, which is possible if the discharges were very energetic)? And did they then, awed and amazed, scratch these shapes on the rocks about them? Well, who knows. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't.
It would help if there was some unrelated evidence for such an atmospheric phenomenon, or for the solar or other event that might have caused it. As far as I know, there isn't, so this is all speculation. Enjoyable, aesthetically inspiring, exciting speculation--but speculation all the same.
Originally posted by AstyanaxIt is true that you need a fair amount of physics to understand in detail what's being discussed here, but the source Xenus directed you to is part of a crank site. Don't risk being misinformed;
Originally posted by Astyanax
As for plasmascience.net, it is a site maintained by a group of electrical and electronic engineers who are doing their best to promote this alternative approach to astrophysics; however, their ideas have made no headway in physics because (I understand) they involve massive extrapolations of scale, fail to make any testable predictions and do not account for many physical phenomena--unlike the current relativity-based model, which is time-tested and well founded.
[edit on 12/12/09 by Astyanax]
Originally posted by davesidious
reply to post by wylee
It looks 'perfect' because the missile was out of the atmosphere, or at least in a highly rarefied atmosphere. No wind, very little wind resistance, and the pattern was made by highly energetic particles of leaking and/or burned fuel.
Russia launched the missile there, because that's where Russia launches its submarine-launched weapons (in the White Sea), towards the Pacific. Russia said it would launch a missile, then we all saw something that looks exactly like a failed high-altitude missile (as ICBMs are), and then Russia admitted to launching a missile. No expert has said it wasn't a missile, as they all know their stuff and know a failed missile when they see one. The physics of making a pattern like we saw is fantastically simple - take a pressurised cannister containing fuel, burn some out the back (making the blue plume), and leak some out the side (making the white spiral), and due to the side leak not being directed away from the centre of gravity, spin is induced, creating a spiral pattern which is not affected by the wind, as there isn't any.
Originally posted by davesidious
They're experts. If you don't believe what they say, turn off your computer, stop taking your meds, stop eating food, and go live in a cave - as thanks to exports you have all of them. It would be utter hypocrisy for you to thumb your nose at this explanation, and yet benefit from science. Especially as you can't even find anyone of any serious expertise agreeing with you.
Just post up your sources that doubt the claim, and we'll put them head-to-head. We'll see how many astronomers and missile experts you have in your corner. Then if you don't want to accept it, we can agree that you don't believe in the scientific method, and draw a line under this.
Originally posted by Astyanax
reply to post by Xenus
Oh, dear. Despite the mounting evidence of obsession in your earlier posts, I continued to hope that you were a reasonable person with whom one could have a sane conversation.
Your reply to davesidious shows clearly that I was mistaken. It presents no evidence against his points nor any reasoned attempt at rebuttal; it's just mad, hysterical raving.
Earlier, I was a bit offended when you called me a liar. I prize my integrity highly, on ATS just as in real life, and people impugn it at their peril. But don't worry, I'm not offended any more. After that last crazy outburst, how can anyone possibly take what you say seriously?
By the way, is there a Church of Peratt at which the faithful worship?
Originally posted by Astyanax
reply to post by Xenus
You are correct; plasma physics is indeed a very well-founded branch of the subject. 'Plasma cosmology', however, is at odds with the current scientific consensus, most vividly so in its hypothesis of star formation, which leaves out the effects of gravity and nuclear fusion.
Examples of the very speculative nature of Alfvén's conclusions include factually inaccurate explanations for star formation using Birkeland currents.
That quote comes from the Wikipedia entry
on plasma cosmology, which offers a good and scientifically literate survey of the subject.
As for plasmascience.net, it is a site maintained by a group of electrical and electronic engineers who are doing their best to promote this alternative approach to astrophysics; however, their ideas have made no headway in physics because (I understand) they involve massive extrapolations of scale, fail to make any testable predictions and do not account for many physical phenomena--unlike the current relativity-based model, which is time-tested and well founded.
[edit on 12/12/09 by Astyanax]
Originally posted by Xenus
These all apply to you. Not me.
People who are insane do not know it...
You know that it was no rocket
Did ancient man also see rocket tests gone wrong?
You have no interest in the subject.
The fact is these events happened before and ancient humans SAW them, then carved them into rocks. What did they see that was so spectacular, so amazing, so awe inspiring that caused them to carve them onto rocks, world wide? It is not something that only one group of people did, this was WORLD WIDE. The spiral in Norway was one example.
December 23, 2009: The solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud that physics says should not exist. In the Dec. 24th issue of Nature, a team of scientists reveal how NASA's Voyager spacecraft have solved the mystery.
"Using data from Voyager, we have discovered a strong magnetic field just outside the solar system," explains lead author Merav Opher, a NASA Heliophysics Guest Investigator from George Mason University. "This magnetic field holds the interstellar cloud together and solves the long-standing puzzle of how it can exist at all."
Astronomers call the cloud we're running into now the Local Interstellar Cloud or "Local Fluff" for short. It's about 30 light years wide and contains a wispy mixture of hydrogen and helium atoms at a temperature of 6000 C. The existential mystery of the Fluff has to do with its surroundings. About 10 million years ago, a cluster of supernovas exploded nearby, creating a giant bubble of million-degree gas. The Fluff is completely surrounded by this high-pressure supernova exhaust and should be crushed or dispersed by it.
"The observed temperature and density of the local cloud do not provide enough pressure to resist the 'crushing action' of the hot gas around it," says Opher.
So how does the Fluff survive? The Voyagers have found an answer.
"Voyager data show that the Fluff is much more strongly magnetized than anyone had previously suspected—between 4 and 5 microgauss*," says Opher. "This magnetic field can provide the extra pressure required to resist destruction."
NASA's two Voyager probes have been racing out of the solar system for more than 30 years. They are now beyond the orbit of Pluto and on the verge of entering interstellar space—but they are not there yet.
"The Voyagers are not actually inside the Local Fluff," says Opher. "But they are getting close and can sense what the cloud is like as they approach it."
The Fluff is held at bay just beyond the edge of the solar system by the sun's magnetic field, which is inflated by solar wind into a magnetic bubble more than 10 billion km wide. Called the "heliosphere," this bubble acts as a shield that helps protect the inner solar system from galactic cosmic rays and interstellar clouds. The two Voyagers are located in the outermost layer of the heliosphere, or "heliosheath," where the solar wind is slowed by the pressure of interstellar gas.
Voyager 1 entered the heliosheath in Dec. 2004; Voyager 2 followed almost 3 years later in Aug. 2007. These crossings were key to Opher et al's discovery.
The size of the heliosphere is determined by a balance of forces: Solar wind inflates the bubble from the inside while the Local Fluff compresses it from the outside. Voyager's crossings into the heliosheath revealed the approximate size of the heliosphere and, thus, how much pressure the Local Fluff exerts. A portion of that pressure is magnetic and corresponds to the ~5 microgauss Opher's team has reported in Nature.
*snip*
Additional compression could allow more cosmic rays to reach the inner solar system, possibly affecting terrestrial climate and the ability of astronauts to travel safely through space.
*snip*
"There could be interesting times ahead!" says Opher.
science.nasa.gov...
Eventually, the solar system will run into some of them, and their strong magnetic fields could compress the heliosphere even more than it is compressed now.
These events would play out on time scales of tens to hundreds of thousands of years, which is how long it takes for the solar system to move from one cloud to the next.
Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Xenus
No.
NASA does not seem to be agreeing.
Here's what you left out of the article. Why? Didn't you think these phrases were pertinent?
Eventually, the solar system will run into some of them, and their strong magnetic fields could compress the heliosphere even more than it is compressed now.
These events would play out on time scales of tens to hundreds of thousands of years, which is how long it takes for the solar system to move from one cloud to the next.
Maybe you can explain how something affecting the heliopause can make a visible spiral on Earth, more than 90 AU away. Was it cosmic rays now? According to you it had something to do with Birkland currents (still not sure how they would form a spiral either).
[edit on 12/23/2009 by Phage]
Originally posted by mnemeth1
Characteristics for the Occurrence of a High-Current Z-Pinch Aurora as Recorded in Antiquity - 2
More published papers:
plasmascience.net...
What you are looking at in these papers are bits and pieces of data, where Peratt and others have matched petroglyphs to auroras seen at various angles and dates by various tribes around the world.