Sun // Current TV

Total solar eclipse tomorrow-first to pass over Easter Island in 1400 years

The moon’s dark umbral shadow will touch the South Pacific Ocean northeast of... more

JanforGore
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MIT researchers find way to harness and store solar energy day and night

Renewable energy technologies have long been plagued by a lack of storage. But... more

JanforGore
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Even SPF 75 May Not Be Able to Prevent Sun Damage and Cancer

Why 'SPF' Ratings Are Misleading And How To Find The Right Sunscreen by... more

greywrld
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Scientists Discover Heavenly Solar Music

Musical sounds created by longitudinal vibrations within the Sun's atmosphere,... more

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Exploring the Electric Universe

The Electric Universe The Electric Universe theory highlights the importance of... more

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NASA captures 3D video of comet plunging into sun

A comet plunging into the sun has been captured in 3-D as it hurtled along its... more

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Will Japan's Solar Sail Succeed? The Next Big Step in Space Travel Could Be Here.

The unfurling of a Japanese solar sail, the first demonstration of a new space propulsion technology, went exactly according to plan.

According toJAXA’s blog posts and photos from the event, the IKAROS spacecraft’s sail appears to be in place. It’s a big step in its attempt to travel driven only by sunlight.

“This is the first sail ever deployed in space, and if they succeed in using it for solar-sail flight — it’ll still be a few weeks before we know that — it’ll be a milestone,” said Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society, an organization dedicated to promoting space exploration, which is readying its own solar-sailing mission.

A solar sail uses the pressure from photons striking its surface to push the spacecraft through space. Materially, the 650 square-foot sail is made of incredibly thin, aluminized plastic that’s only 0.0003 inches thick, a little thicker than spider silk, or about the diameter of a red blood cell. When a photon strikes its surface, it bounces off, imparting its momentum to the sail. Each photon might not deliver much thrust, but over time, all that light adds up.

“The actual force might be just a few millionths of a g, but because it acts continuously, it allows you to build up large velocity changes over time,” Friedman said. “That’s where a sail really does its work is long missions.”

The Japanese sail also has thin-film solar cells built into it. They could be used to generate electricity to drive an engine that would work alongside the sail.

The key difficulty with such a thin and large object is that it’s hard to deploy. “The things we’re watching for are all their dynamical behaviors that you ultimately can’t model and that might cause undue stress on the material,” Friedman said.

In the IKAROS design, the sail was unfurled by using centrifugal force generated by spinning the craft.

Space-travel proponents are particularly interested in the technology because it doesn’t require fuel, which makes it the leading (and basically) only candidate for very long-distance travel.

“It’s the only way we know — that anybody knows — to ultimately do practical interstellar flight because you don’t have to carry your propellant along with you,” Friedman said. “Anything else you do, whether it’s nuclear or advanced engines, you’re always carrying propellant and the mass becomes too great.”

Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/06/solar-sail-deployment#ixzz0qUZaKojeThe unfurling of a Japanese solar sail, the first demonstration of a new space... more

cheshiresleeves
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What's Wrong With The SUN ?

SUNSPOTS come and go, but recently they have mostly gone. For centuries, astronomers... more

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Electromagnetic Galaxies

Galactic magnetic fields were discovered more than 50 years ago.

Astronomers continue to ask basic questions about the stars: what generates their magnetic fields? What gives those fields their shape and their strength?

According to a recent press release, a team of astronomers using an updated analytical model of galaxy formation think they have found the answers. Cool gas falling into the galaxy, supernovae explosions, the birth of new stars, and the rotational energy of the galaxy itself are what create the fields. However, they are missing other factors in their equations since the models are not able to predict the fields observed in several spiral galaxies.

Magnetic fields in space can be detected more easily than electric currents, so modern astronomers think that the fields are "primordial" fragments left over from the Big Bang. They rely on that conclusion to explain how the structures that make up the Universe were formed.

The fact that moving charges constitute an electric current that can generate magnetic fields has been known since the days of Michael Faraday. However, a lack of knowledge often means a lack of vision. As previously stated, moving charged particles constitute an electric current, and that current is wrapped in a magnetic field. When more charged particles accelerate in the same direction, the field gets stronger. That is a familiar idea to electrical engineers, but when astronomers find moving charges in space they are mystified and refer to them as "winds," or "shock waves."

Something else not considered when researchers attempt to explain structure in the Universe is that for charged particles to move, they must move in a circuit. Energetic events cannot be explained by local conditions, alone. The effects of an entire circuit must be considered. For that reason, while the consensus scientific worldview only permits isolated "islands" in space, the Electric Universe emphasizes connectivity with an electrically active network of "transmission lines" composed of Birkeland current filaments.

The Electric Universe theory does not adhere to the idea of galaxies condensing out of cold, inert hydrogen and specks of zircon no bigger than a molecule. So, what are galaxies?

In 1981, Hannes Alfvén said that galaxies are much like one of Michael Faraday's inventions, the homopolar motor. A homopolar motor is driven by magnetic fields induced in a circular conducting plate. The plate is mounted between the poles of an electromagnet, causing it to spin at a rate proportional to the input current.

Galaxies move within a filamentary circuit of electricity that flows through the cosmos from beginning to end. We see the effects of those electromagnetic fields that permeate space. Electricity organizes itself within masses of plasma sometimes larger than galaxy clusters. That plasma is primarily composed of neutral atoms, but free electrons, protons and other charged particles are also present.

Primal electrical energy is orders of magnitude more powerful than gravity. The “plasma ropes” that comprise Birkeland currents attract one another over distance in a linear relationship, so Birkeland currents are the most powerful long-range attractors in the Universe. Electric currents flowing through dusty plasma sustain the magnetic fields detected in stars and galaxies.

more at link...

The Electric Universe is the new scientific Renaissance.Galactic magnetic fields were discovered more than 50 years ago. Astronomers... more

rodstradamus
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2 years ago
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Electric Universe - Wallace Thornhill Interview

RedIceRadio — March 20, 2010 — Author and researcher Wallace Thorhill... more

rodstradamus
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2 years ago
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Breaking News :Migration of wild animals in La Manche

The migration of wild animals in La Manche ends - A group of elephants was... more

ASCA
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2 years ago
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The Cloud Mystery

“Our clouds take their orders from the stars,” says the Danish scientist Henrik Svensmark. That's the amazing and provocative discovery reported here. Most experts thought the idea was crazy.

The film records ten years of effort by the small team in Copenhagen that, in the end, solved the mystery of how the Galaxy and the Sun interfere in our everyday weather.

It's provocative because Dr Svensmark's revelations challenge the belief of most climate theorists that carbon dioxide has been the main driver of global warming. As a result he has faced never-ending opposition.

But strong support for the cosmic view of climate change comes from astronomer Nir Shaviv and geologist Jan Veizer. In the film they tell how the Galaxy has governed the Earth's ever-changing climate over 500 million years.

The Cloud Mystery is aimed at a wide audience. Astonishing pictures from our Galaxy, the Sun, and cloud formations are mixed with spectacular animations to simplify the science. Comments by astronomers, geologists and climate experts convey their sense of adventure, and give scientific weight to the discoveries presented. The audience is taken on a trip around the world, where scientists from Denmark, Israel, Canada, the USA, and Norway contribute to this exciting story.

Linking all the discoveries is the non-stop rain of cosmic rays – energetic particles from exploded stars that battle with the Sun's magnetic field to reach the Earth. Central in the story is an experiment in a Copenhagen basement. It showed how cosmic rays help to make chemical specks in the air on which water drops condense to make clouds.

The story concludes that clouds are the main driver of climate change on Earth.

The documentary follows Henrik Svensmark in his struggle to find the physical evidence of a celestial climate driver. The film demonstrates that science can be a rough place to be if you are in opposition to the established “truth”.

Lars Oxfeldt Mortensen has produced and directed a number of international acclaimed documentaries. He is the winner of numerous awards including CirCom Regional, Monte Carlo and the Télé Science awards.“Our clouds take their orders from the stars,” says the Danish scientist... more