The Electric Comet

The Electric Comet
by Wallace Thornhill and David Talbott

For several decades plasma cosmologists, inspired by the work of Hannes Alfvén, have urged astronomers to consider the role of electric currents and plasma discharge in large scale cosmic events.

According to these theorists, electricity may be the dominating force in galaxy and star formation. But only a few have considered the role electricity might play in the spectacular displays of comets.

Comets follow their elongated paths within a weak electrical field centered on the Sun. In approaching the Sun, a charge imbalance develops between the nucleus and the higher voltage and charge density near the Sun. Growing electrical stresses initiate discharges and the formation of a glowing plasma sheath, appearing as the coma and tail.

The electric comet model does not stand alone but in partnership with another hypothesis—the electric Sun.

In the 1960s, engineer Ralph Juergens, an admirer of Hannes Alfvén, proposed that the Sun is a glow discharge, the center of an electric field extending to the heliopause. This field is the cause of solar wind acceleration. In the 1970s Juergens elaborated the theoretical concept and suggested that a comet’s display is provoked by its electrical exchange with the Sun.

Verification of the “electric comet,” therefore, will have far-reaching effects on all theoretical sciences touching on the nature of the universe:
• An electric field sufficient to cause electrical discharging on a comet beyond the orbit of Saturn has the potential to power the Sun.

• We can no longer ignore the cosmic electricians’ claims: they tell us that the Sun is not a nuclear furnace but an electric glow discharge; its nuclear reactions are occurring not in the interior but in the atmosphere of the Sun, where the intensity of the discharge is highest.

• The nebular hypothesis of planetary origins, with its gravity-only causation, rests on too many unwarranted assumptions. Astronomers must now ask: what was the role of electricity in solar system evolution?

• The fabled residue of the primordial nebula, the “Oort cloud,” called upon to send comets into the inner solar system, has lost its rationale.

• The electric field implied by comet behavior suggests that planets may not have always moved on their present orbits. The history of the solar system may bear little resemblance to present textbook descriptions.

• Electric currents and electric events in our solar system appear to have countless analogs in deep space.

Above all else, astronomers and cosmologists must educate themselves on the behavior of electric currents in plasma.
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/electric_universe/esp_electricuniverse17.htm