Alfven and Juergens Circuits, a Reconciliation?

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Alfven and Juergens Circuits, a Reconciliation?

Postby Robertus Maximus » Thu 20 Aug 2015 1:54 pm

Alfven and Juergens Circuits, a Reconciliation?

At the 2014 SIS Autumn Meeting Bob Johnson asked us to reconsider the nature of the Sun (see: http://www.sis-group.org.uk/event/2014-10-25/2014-autumn-meeting.htm). At question was the nature of the Electric Sun model, not the mainstream fusion model, in particular, the model initially proposed by Ralph Juergens in 1972 (1) and subsequently developed by Earl Milton, Don Scott and Wal Thornhill.

Bob Johnson had hoped to stimulate discussion in trying to resolve the outstanding issues that he identified with the Juergens Milton Scott Thornhill (JMST) model which would ultimately lead to a viable Electric Sun model.

I’m presenting a very tentative approach that may lead to a workable Electric Sun model my starting points are the sunspot and Hale solar magnetic cycles which this proposal views as key to understanding how the Sun is powered by its environment; none of the 4 proposals above fully address both cycles and Bob Johnson claims that one explanation (Wal Thornhill’s) concerning the timing of sunspots and the Sun’s equatorial torus is at odds with the data. Any comments would be welcomed (except regarding my illustrations, they were the best I could do with Microsoft Paint!).

The Negative Anode

In his original work (1) Ralph Juergens suggested that the Sun was highly negatively charged but its environment carried an even greater negative charge, as a result the Sun functioned as an anode in an electrical discharge of galactic proportions. In order to sustain the discharge Ralph Juergens assumed that charges were separated on a galactic scale with a gradual transfer of charge between regions of differing potentials. Since that time we now know that the interstellar plasma is far more filamentary; is it possible that current filaments directly impinge on the solar surface to sustain the discharge and if so, how?

The Sun’s Orientation

In order to appreciate the approach I am suggesting a brief understanding of the Sun’s orientation as it moves around the Milky Way Galaxy is needed. A common misconception is that the Sun’s rotational axis (North and South poles) is aligned with the rotational axis of the galaxy (North and South Galactic poles). This is not the case, the Sun’s rotational axis is inclined some 63 degrees (2) from the rotational axis of the galaxy; the Sun and the solar system are effectively tipped over on their side with the Sun’s north pole pointing in the direction of motion (see: http://www.thunderbolts.info/forum/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=3188&mode=view). A similar situation exists in the solar system were Uranus’ rotational axis is tilted (some 98 degrees) in relation to the Sun’s axis. Interestingly, given that Uranus’ axial tilt is more closely aligned to that of the galaxy is this an indication that Uranus is a captured former brown dwarf?

Current Filaments

In the Plasma/ Electric Universe model helical Birkeland currents (3) flow through the arms of a spiral galaxy (see: http://www.ice-age-ahead-iaa.ca/small/electric_galaxy_dynamics.jpg). As the Sun is located in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy it is reasonable to assume that a degree of interaction must occur between it and any Birkeland currents present in the Local Interstellar Medium (LISM). The possibility of interaction is greatly increased given the size of the Sun’s heliosphere. The spacecraft Voyager 1 was reported to have left the heliosphere and entered interstellar space at a distance of approximately 18 billion kilometres or ~122 AU (Astronomical Units), now a sphere with a radius of 122 AU could contain all the stars of 2 Milky Way sized galaxies!

Due to the helical nature of Birkeland currents any point of contact between the current and the heliosphere will be a varying one (see: http://www.thunderbolts.info/forum/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=3189&mode=view). Now, from this illustration we can see that relative motion between the Sun/heliosphere and a (rotating?) helical Birkeland current (helicity of which is represented by zigzag or saw-tooth line) will vary cyclically. At one point of the cycle the local current will impinge on the heliosphere at an angle that is not too dissimilar to the Sun’s rotational axis. As the cycle progresses current flow will impinge on the heliosphere perpendicular to the rotational axis, eventually the current will once again be focused at the poles, having passed through every angle in-between.

One way to visualise the idea in 3 dimensions is to imagine a table tennis ball as representing the heliosphere, held in the centre of a stretched-out slinky (spring) which represents helical Birkeland current filaments.

Solar Cycles: Minimum

At this starting point the solar magnetic field North (positive) is located in the solar northern hemisphere likewise magnetic South (negative) is located in the solar southern hemisphere. Current is arriving at an angle normal to the poles- the ‘Y’ axis. (See: http://www.thunderbolts.info/forum/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=2941&mode=view). This is solar minimum, the Sun’s magnetic field is dominated by its dipolar component, and no sunspots are visible in the equatorial regions. This is because currents originating from the edge of the heliosphere are aligned and focused at both poles manifesting themselves as coronal holes (4) near to the sun. This broad concentration of current filaments, appear as the Fast Solar Wind (750km/s) at high solar latitudes. Coronal holes exhibit ‘open’ magnetic field lines suggesting a current source beyond the heliosphere. The Fast Solar Wind (FSW) composition nearly matches that of the photosphere. The Sun appears dark in X-ray images (5 (12 o’clock position)) and total solar irradiance falls slightly- as the bulk of electrons arriving at the Sun are arriving at the poles. At this time the corona adopts a lenticular form or forms an equatorial torus of energetic particles in a region that is now dominated by the Heliospheric Current Sheet (HCS) and Slow Solar Wind (350km/s). Unlike the FSW the Slow Solar Wind (SSW) composition closely matches that of the corona.

Findings from the Voyager 1 spacecraft indicate that the plasma outside the heliosphere is 40 times denser than the plasma inside the heliosphere. (6) Whilst the Ulysses spacecraft found the temperature of the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) plasma to be 6500K. (7) As the Birkeland current is entering a region of lower density a current carrying double layer (CCDL) may well form, as: ‘the current has to pass through a region of decreased ion density. In order to prevent charge from accumulating, the current in the system must be the same everywhere. The electron density also has to be close to the ion density (quasineutrality), so there is also a dip in electron density. The electrons must therefore be accelerated into the density cavity, to maintain the same current density with a lower density of charge carriers. This implies that the density cavity is at a high electrical potential. As a consequence, the ions are accelerated out of the cavity…’ (8) The acceleration ability of a double layer may well be the cause of the FSW high velocity.

So, at solar minimum current is being accelerated toward the Sun and focused at the Sun’s higher latitudes and poles, from this image we can see how sharp the division is between the two solar winds- just as if the FSW is a Birkeland current (9). The density of the current is such that openings in the corona form but changes to the photosphere are minimal. Observations by the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft revealed the origin of the FSW to be ‘coming from the edges of honeycomb-shaped patterns of magnetic fields at the surface of the Sun.’ In Doppler velocity maps coronal holes are reminiscent of extremely large diffuse sunspots. (10)

Overall, the picture at solar minimum is not too dissimilar to Don Scott’s view as we can see in this image (see:http://www.thunderbolts.info/forum/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=2849&mode=view) and the Alfven circuit (see: http://www.holoscience.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Alfvens-heliospheric-circuit.jpg).

Solar Cycles: Maximum

(See: http://www.thunderbolts.info/forum/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=2942&mode=view).
If, as is assumed here, Birkeland currents are rotating past the heliosphere in a helical motion then the intensity of any incoming currents will fluctuate in response to that motion. This is what we find, sunspots gradually appear in a band at mid to higher solar latitudes the bands first widen, then as the cycle continues move toward the solar equatorial regions. (11). The above diagram shows that the impinging current has rotated away from the poles (having passed through every angle in-between) and is arriving in the equatorial regions at the ‘Y’ axis- this is solar maximum. We find that the polar coronal holes, FSW and equatorial torus have all now disappeared (corona now spherical). The current filaments now merge with the HCS all activity is confined to the equatorial regions. The solar magnetic field has lost its dipole structure and is in complete disarray, (12, 13) even exhibiting a four pole structure (14).

The same diffuse polar currents of 6 years earlier are now intense filamentary currents at the equator with strong magnetic fields, which exhibit the same structure as a Birkeland current – the sunspots. ‘Magnetic field strengths within sunspots range from 1,000 to 4,000 Gauss, and are thousands of times more intense than Earth's average surface field strength of about 0.5 Gauss. The fields within sunspots are also much stronger than the Sun's global average field, which is around 1 Gauss. Larger sunspots have higher field strengths’ (15).

Observations by SOHO found ‘A sunspot turns out to be a kind of whirlpool, where hot gas near the Sun’s surface converges and dives into the interior at speeds of up to 4000 kilometres per hour’ (16, 17). Sunspots are also known to rotate. SOHO found that there was a strong plasma vortex beneath the rotating sunspot and that the magnetic fields confining the sunspot appeared to be twisted beneath the surface, in the sunspot umbra the magnetic field is normal to the solar surface whilst in the penumbra the field is more inclined almost as if the very structure of a Birkeland current is being plotted on the photosphere. The Sun now appears bright in X-ray images (5 (5 and 7 o’clock positions)) and total solar irradiance increases slightly- as the bulk of electrons arriving at the Sun are now arriving in the equatorial regions.

During solar cycle 23 SOHO discovered what mission scientists called ‘Mysterious clouds of gas falling towards the Sun’, they were ‘mysterious’ because they ‘go against the fast-moving streams of gas that pour out continuously into space, in the solar wind’ (18). From this European Space Agency (ESA) report (19) we find: ‘About 8000 inflow events have now been logged - most of them since 1998 while the Sun has been at its most active, as judged by the high count of sunspots. The inflows can start at an altitude of up to 2,700,000 kilometres above the visible surface, a distance equal to twice the Sun's diameter. Here the accelerating solar wind, leaving the Sun, has reached a speed of about 120 kilometres per second. Fighting against it, the gas clouds travel in at 50-100 kilometres per second. Typically they appear to come to rest about 700,000 kilometres out.’

However, the LASCO instrument aboard SOHO was designed to explore the region from 700,000 to 3,500,000 kilometres from the visible surface, so it is possible that the inflows of gas descended much closer to the photosphere. Of course we are really talking about plasma not ‘clouds of gas’.

The report continued: ‘Although the gas feels a very strong pull from the Sun's gravity, this is not the decisive force acting on the inflows. The high rate at which they gather speed initially, and their eventual slowdown, suggest instead that they are firmly under the control of a magnetic force. A few inflows are a backwash from explosive mass ejections, which are sporadic events, but the overwhelming majority occur quite regularly within regions of slow solar wind.

‘A downpour of 20 inflows per day, seen on the left side of the Sun, can be followed after a lull of two weeks by a similar downpour seen on the right side. This means that the occurrences persist in a particular region on the Sun, which takes two weeks to move from left to right as the Sun rotates. The regional association can continue for months...’ (my emphasis).

The inflow events occurred as the solar cycle was progressing to solar maximum, inflows on one side of the Sun were visible two weeks later on the other side- sunspots can take approximately two weeks to traverse the solar disc! There appears to be a correlation between sunspots and inflow events, almost as if the Birkeland currents, responsible for the formation of sunspots, are causing an avalanche of plasma from the corona toward the photosphere. Plus, the LASCO instrument could only detect inflows on the solar limb, is it possible that there never was a two week lull, rather, the inflows had simply rotated out of the view of SOHO?

The evidence from SOHO indicates that close to the Sun a constant flow of plasma toward the Sun is present. Even with the LASCO instrument it was difficult to observe. Mission scientists as expected, attributed the inflows to ‘collapsing magnetic loops’ rather than an electric current but as a professor of astrophysics admitted to Wal Thornhill ‘When we don’t understand something we blame it on magnetism’ (20).

Solar Cycles: Return to Minimum

(See: http://www.thunderbolts.info/forum/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=2943&mode=view).
As the cycle continues the main Birkeland current rotates around the heliosphere. Closer to the Sun in its filamentary form the Birkeland current crosses hemispheres and migrates towards the opposite solar pole. Once again the current gradually concentrates at the poles. Sunspots fade, the FSW reappears, the corona becomes more lenticular and the magnetic field regains its dipole structure only now we find the solar magnetic field South (negative) is located in the solar northern hemisphere and magnetic North (positive) is located in the solar southern hemisphere.

IBEX

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer or IBEX is a NASA Earth orbiting spacecraft designed to explore the edge of the heliosphere (21). Since 2008 IBEX has been making measurements of this region, pertinent to my proposal, some of the major discoveries according to the IBEX Principle Investigator, Dave McComas include: the discovery of an Enhanced Neutral Atoms (ENA) Ribbon and its connection to the interstellar magnetic field, the discovery of rapid (~6 month) time variations in the heliosphere’s interstellar interaction and connection to decreasing solar wind output, the discovery that the very local interstellar medium is rotating ahead of the heliosphere (22). (my emphasis)

IBEX also discovered that the structure of the FSW and SSW extend to the edge of the heliosphere (23) and recorded changes over a five year period of what was called the ‘IBEX Ribbon’ for part of solar cycle 24 (24). I propose that these changes at the edge of the heliosphere are directly related to the sunspot and Hale solar magnetic cycles, furthermore any future observations from solar maximum, will reveal changes in the FSW component, at the edge of the heliosphere, in line with what I have suggested above.

The Origin of the Photosphere

In 1982 two papers by Ralph Juergens were compiled by Earl Milton and published posthumously, in the first of those papers Earl Milton wrote: ‘…Juergens showed that the solar photosphere can be compared to a "tufted anode glow" in an electric discharge tube. The tuft forms because the body of the Sun, immersed in the interplanetary plasma, which at its inner boundary is the weakly luminous outer solar region called the corona, cannot maintain an electrical discharge into the surrounding electrified galactic space. Juergens noted that the problem could arise from any one or more of the following conditions:
‘(1) the solar body forms too small a surface to conduct the current required for the discharge, (2) the surrounding plasma is too "cool", and/or (3) the cathode drop is too large. The "anode tuft" detached from, and now lying above, the "surface" of the solar body increases the effective surface area over which the Sun can collect electrons. Within the "tuft", volatile material — vaporized from the Sun — increases the gas density and contributes large numbers of extra electrons because, now, many of the frequent collisions between the gas atoms result in ionization. A highly luminous arc discharge thus forms between the Sun and its environment; it stabilizes the electrical flow between the Sun and surrounding galactic space. This secondary discharge — the granular solar photosphere — provides the needed additional electron flow towards the Sun, thereby allowing it to launch an appropriate ion current from the Sun to the galaxy.’ (25)

We now know that the composition of the FSW closely matches that of the photosphere. I have suggested that filamentary currents from beyond the heliosphere are the cause of the FSW and ultimately the mechanism by which electrons are delivered to the Sun; we can now ask, is this an indication that the photosphere’s characteristics are being influenced from beyond the heliosphere? I believe that they are. Whilst we may not be able to answer with any certainty which of the three options, offered by Juergens above, as to the cause of photospheric tufting is the correct one, it is interesting to note that it is thought that the Sun entered the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) between 44,000 and 150,000 years ago (26). This event could have led to a change in the mode of discharge- from glow to arc perhaps- as the Sun entered a different electrical environment; with the consequences being felt by any planets in the system.

Uranus, a Model for the Heliosphere?

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun at an average distance of 2,870,671,400km and takes approximately 84 years to complete one orbit. Its axis is tilted some 98 degrees and the planet takes just over 17hours to complete one rotation about this axis. Only one spacecraft has visited Uranus- Voyager 2 in January 1986 (27).

One of the discoveries by Voyager 2 was that Uranus has an off-set magnetic field (28). Looking at the orientation of the field it is almost as if it is attempting to align itself normal to the plane of the solar system- as if it is being imposed by the environment- only to be disrupted by a field generated by a charged Uranus.

These images show Uranus’ magnetosphere at the time of the Voyager 2 encounter (see: http://vega.lpl.arizona.edu/~gilda/images/Bag_Ura2.gif). The magnetic axis (large straight arrow) is off-set with respect to the rotation axis (curled arrow). Therefore as the planet orbits the Sun and the rotation axis continues to point in a constant direction, the magnetic axis rotates. Observations by Voyager 2 in 1986 (at southern summer solstice) showed a ‘quiet’ Uranus with an off-set magnetic dipole field approximately located in each hemisphere. More recent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Earth based telescopes at Uranian equinox showed an ‘active’ planet with storms and aurora at lower latitudes (29, 30, 31). Would in-situ measurements of Uranus’ magnetic field at this time have revealed magnetic poles at the planet’s equatorial regions?

As Uranus orbits the Sun its atmosphere exhibits what we may call ‘minimum’ and ‘maximum’ activity. We see the same phenomena occurring on the Sun; with the Sun, however, this is not due to the motion of the Sun around a parent body, it is due to large scale rotational fluctuations in the local Birkeland current.

Conclusion

Earl Milton wrote: ‘That a negatively charged body like the Sun can increase its charge by emitting a proton wind is reasonable only if the space surrounding the Sun is more negatively charged than is the Sun itself!’ (32) Observations from Ulysses, SOHO, IBEX and Voyager 1 all support this premise and the JMST Electric-Sun model. The electron flow into the heliosphere, which supplies the energy the Sun radiates, takes the form of a rotating filamentary Birkeland current, in other words the sunspot and Hale magnetic cycles are due to an offset rotating Alfven circuit overlying a Juergens circuit, with the solar wind, a flow of ions away from the Sun, carrying part of the electric current.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this is a very tentative idea intended to address some issues with the JMST Electric Sun model. Hopefully, I am not, to quote Bob Johnson “trying to modify a theory that was fundamentally flawed from the start” with one that is more so.

References:

1. Juergens. Ralph. E. 1972. Reconciling Celestial Mechanics and Velikovskian Catastrophism. Pensée Vol. 2 No 3.
2. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3BBS1yq7U7s/T-YBT2pwTVI/AAAAAAAAB5s/RQsap5O-VQA/s1600/Ecliptic+vs+Galactic+Plane.png
3. http://www.plasma-universe.com/Birkeland_current
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_hole
5. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/The_Solar_Cycle_XRay_hi.jpg/1024px-The_Solar_Cycle_XRay_hi.jpg
6. http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/voyager/solar-wind-models-20140723
7. http://sci.esa.int/ulysses/33636-beyond-the-heliosphere/?fbodylongid=1328
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_layer_%28plasma%29
9. http://sci.esa.int/science-e-media/img/6f/12399%20screen2.jpg
10. http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/1999_01_03/
11. http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/SunspotCycle.shtml
12. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/22apr_currentsheet/
13. http://www.thesuntoday.org/solar-facts/suns-magnetic-poles-flipped-solar-max-is-here/
14. http://global.jaxa.jp/article/interview/2013/vol79/img/img06_e.jpg
15. http://www.windows2universe.org/sun/atmosphere/sunspot_magnetism.html&edu=high
16. http://sci.esa.int/soho/28320-soho-reveals-how-sunspots-take-a-stranglehold-on-the-sun/
17. http://news.stanford.edu/news/2001/november7/sunspot-117.html
18. http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2001_11_20/
19. http://sci.esa.int/soho/28996-soho-s-latest-surprise-gas-near-the-sun-heading-the-wrong-way/
20. http://www.holoscience.com/wp/sunspot-mysteries/
21. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ibex/index.html
22. http://ibex.swri.edu/archive/2013.10.19.shtml
23. http://ibex.swri.edu/archive/2013.07.10.shtml
24. http://ibex.swri.edu/ibexpublicdata/Data_Release_7/
25. Juergens. Ralph. E. 1982. Electric Discharge As The Source Of Solar Radiant Energy. Kronos Vol. 8 No 1.
26. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Interstellar_Cloud
27. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus
28. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus#/media/File:Uranian_Magnetic_field.gif
29. https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/planetary/uranus/science/
30. http://phys.org/news/2015-03-giant-methane-storms-uranus.html
31. http://www.space.com/15270-auroras-uranus-hubble-telescope-photos.html
32. Milton. Earl. R. 1980. Electric Stars in a Gravity-Less Electrified Cosmos. SIS Review Vol. 5 No 1.
Robertus Maximus
 
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Re: Alfven and Juergens Circuits, a Reconciliation?

Postby Robertus Maximus » Mon 26 Oct 2015 4:00 pm

XX Triangulum

In the previous post I have suggested that the JMST Electric Sun model is largely correct with the addition of viewing the sunspot and Hale magnetic cycles as an indicator of how Birkeland currents deliver energy to the Sun to maintain the solar discharge.

Now, astronomers from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) have announced that they have mapped the evolution of star-spots on the red giant star XX Triangulum (XX Tri.) (1,2). Obviously, a degree of complex mathematical processing was involved in their modelling of the data so some degree of caution is needed, however, their findings appear to have been readily accepted by mainstream astronomy.

The astronomers have determined that: ‘…the surface of XX Tri is covered with large high-latitude and even polar spots and with occasional small equatorial spots. Just over the course of six years, we see a systematically changing spot distribution with various timescales and morphology, such as spot fragmentation and spot merging as well as spot decay and formation.’ The astronomers have also predicted an approximate 26 year magnetic activity cycle for XX Tri.

I suggest that these observations may be interpreted as support for the proposal outlined above.

Electric Red Giants

In the Electric Sun model it is a star’s environment that determines a star’s characteristics. The electrical strain of XX Tri’s environment is therefore different to the Sun’s environment, so the physical body of XX Tri, which may or may not be larger than our Sun, responds accordingly by developing an extended anode glow. It is this bloated anode glow that conventional astronomy interprets as the physical surface of the star, hence the term ‘giant’.

From Juergens we read: ‘When an anode is further reduced in size, stability demands that it collect more electrons than the plasma can possibly deliver continuously to its surface. The anode must "enlarge" itself. It gives rise to a space-charge sheath, now negative, by divesting itself of a certain number of electrons and thus acquiring a positive bias. The sheath grows until its "surface" can intercept the necessary numbers of drift plus random electrons to maintain the anode current. The outer boundary of the sheath becomes the effective anode surface.

'The electric field in this sheath is just the opposite of that discussed above, in which electrons were repelled. Now, instead of being repelled, even the slowest electrons coming in contact with the sheath find themselves accelerated toward the anode.

'One can, of course, go on reducing the size of the anode (or, what amounts to the same thing electrically, increasing the current density in the discharge plasma). When this is done, however, the sheath at the anode must grow larger and larger, reaching farther and farther into the primary plasma in search of collectible electrons. This process is necessarily self-limiting, for as the sheath expands its electric field grows stronger and stronger. Electrons caught up in the field are accelerated to ever-greater energies. Before long, they become energetic enough to excite neutral particles they chance to collide with, and the sheath takes on a uniform glow — the skin-like anode glow already referred to. (At this point, one may imagine a relatively large stellar object built primarily of hydrogen; clothed in a uniform film of anode glow, reddish in hue, it would be classified by astronomers as a red giant star.)' (my emphasis). (3)

Polar holes and spots

As I have outlined in the above post, currents interact with the solar body preferentially at the poles but due to the relative inclination of the Sun’s axial tilt to the local Birkeland current, partway through the cycle this is not the case and current is compelled to migrate to the Sun’s equatorial regions.

With XX Tri we find a similar situation, current is interacting preferentially at the poles. In the AIP report, a computer generated animation shows the star-spot cycle centred on one of the star’s poles, I fully expect a similar situation to exist at the opposite pole but the orientation of XX Tri will probably prohibit observations of that hemisphere. During solar minimum when current is concentrated at the Sun’s poles we find coronal holes in the solar atmosphere. In the extended atmosphere of XX Tri’s glow discharge (analogous to the Sun’s chromosphere) ‘holes’ take the form of ‘spots’. The limited spot migration in this case would be due to either XX Tri’s axial tilt relative to the local Birkeland current, radial distance from the local main Birkeland current flow or a combination of the two.

Conclusion

From observations of two different class of stars (one main sequence, one giant) we find characteristics linking both, namely, ‘spots’ and ‘holes’- the visible evidence of how local Birkeland currents interact and power stars. It is interesting to note that the authors of the paper predicted a magnetic cycle of approximately 26 years for XX Tri, this figure is not too dissimilar to the Sun’s Hale magnetic cycle of approximately 22 years. Would this period be found to be common to all stars and if so, is this an indication of an underlying periodicity in local Birkeland currents?

References:

1. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151020091659.htm
2. http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2015/06/aa25687-15/aa25687-15.html
3. Juergens. Ralph. E. 1979. The Photosphere: Is It The Top Or The Bottom Of The Phenomenon We Call The Sun. Kronos Vol. 4 No 4.
Robertus Maximus
 
Posts: 35
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Re: Alfven and Juergens Circuits, a Reconciliation?

Postby Robertus Maximus » Fri 11 Dec 2015 9:28 pm

W1906+40

In this report (and accompanying animation) we find another observation of spots at the poles of a ‘tiny star’, this time a brown dwarf; again some degree of caution is needed. (1) Observations led astronomers to conclude the spot was not a ‘magnetic spot’. This is an assumption based on preconceived ideas of what makes a star. What is interesting is once again the spot appears at the pole. I would expect something similar at the unobserved pole; however at this time the body appears too small electrically to exhibit any cycle other than that related to its rotation.

The lead author didn’t: ‘know if this kind of star storm is unique or common, and we don’t why it persists for so long.’ From a mainstream position the ‘star storm’ is a puzzle but from an Electric Sun view it is not, the dwarf is simlpy intercepting galactic current from its local environment.

This L type brown dwarf is very similar to what we would label a ‘gas giant’ in our solar system; I would suspect that if the galactic circuit powering the brown dwarf was usurped by a larger body then the Birkeland current 'spots' may very well manifest themselves as ‘hexagons’, as we find particularly on Saturn in our solar system.

‘Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a tiny star with a giant, cloudy storm, using data from NASA’s Spitzer and Kepler space telescopes. The dark storm is akin to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot: a persistent, raging storm larger than Earth.
“The star is the size of Jupiter, and its storm is the size of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot,” said John Gizis of the University of Delaware, Newark. “We know this newfound storm has lasted at least two years, and probably longer.” Gizis is the lead author of a new study appearing in The Astrophysical Journal.
While planets have been known to have cloudy storms, this is the best evidence yet for a star that has one. The star, referred to as W1906+40, belongs to a thermally cool class of objects called L-dwarfs. Some L-dwarfs are considered stars because they fuse atoms and generate light, as our Sun does, while others, called brown dwarfs, are known as “failed stars” for their lack of atomic fusion.
The L-dwarf in the study, W1906+40, is thought to be a star based on estimates of its age (the older the L-dwarf, the more likely it is a star). Its temperature is about 3,500 °F (2,200 K). That may sound scorching hot, but as far as stars go, it is relatively cool. Cool enough, in fact, for clouds to form in its atmosphere.
“The L-dwarf’s clouds are made of tiny minerals,” said Gizis.
Spitzer has observed other cloudy brown dwarfs before, finding evidence for short-lived storms lasting hours and perhaps days.
In the new study, the astronomers were able to study changes in the atmosphere of W1906+40 for two years. The L-dwarf had initially been discovered by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer in 2011. Later, Gizis and his team realised that this object happened to be located in the same area of the sky where NASA’s Kepler mission had been staring at stars for years to hunt for planets.
Kepler identifies planets by looking for dips in starlight as planets pass in front of their stars. In this case, astronomers knew observed dips in starlight weren’t coming from planets, but they thought they might be looking at a star spot — which, like our Sun’s “sunspots,” are a result of concentrated magnetic fields. Star spots would also cause dips in starlight as they rotate around the star.
Follow-up observations with Spitzer, which detects infrared light, revealed that the dark patch was not a magnetic star spot but a colossal, cloudy storm with a diameter that could hold three Earths. The storm rotates around the star about every 9 hours. Spitzer’s infrared measurements at two infrared wavelengths probed different layers of the atmosphere and, together with the Kepler visible-light data, helped reveal the presence of the storm.
While this storm looks different when viewed at various wavelengths, astronomers say that if we could somehow travel there in a starship, it would look like a dark mark near the polar top of the star.’
The researchers plan to look for other stormy stars and brown dwarfs using Spitzer and Kepler in the future.
“We don’t know if this kind of star storm is unique or common, and we don’t why it persists for so long,” said Gizis.’

References:

1. http://astronomynow.com/2015/12/10/nasa-telescopes-detect-jupiter-like-storm-on-small-cool-star/
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Re: Alfven and Juergens Circuits, a Reconciliation?

Postby Robertus Maximus » Fri 12 Feb 2016 5:37 pm

Rotating Interstellar Magnetic Field revealed by Voyager 1

In this press release by NASA (1) we find that measurements made by the Voyager 1 spacecraft have revealed that the direction of the local interstellar magnetic field has been ‘slowly turning’ since the spacecraft began making measurements of the region in 2012.
Researchers put this down to the interstellar magnetic field somehow being deflected by the solar wind, they probably have the mechanical ‘bow-shock’ model in mind.

Absent in the report are any mention of electrical effects but as magnetic fields are generated by electric currents a rotating magnetic field in the local interstellar medium implies rotating electric currents beyond the heliosphere, closer to the Sun it is these currents which we see as the sunspot and Hale magnetic cycles and sustain the solar discharge.

According to one researcher, ‘If you think of the magnetic field as a rubber band stretched around a beach ball, that band is being deflected around the heliopause,’ In my opinion, my analogy of a table tennis ball representing the heliosphere, held in the centre of a stretched-out slinky (spring) is more appropriate.

‘Voyager 1 Helps Solve Interstellar Medium Mystery’

‘NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft made history in 2012 by entering interstellar space, leaving the planets and the solar wind behind. But observations from the pioneering probe were puzzling with regard to the magnetic field around it, as they differed from what scientists derived from observations by other spacecraft.

'A new study offers fresh insights into this mystery. Writing in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, Nathan Schwadron of the University of New Hampshire, Durham, and colleagues reanalyzed magnetic field data from Voyager 1 and found that the direction of the magnetic field has been slowly turning ever since the spacecraft crossed into interstellar space. They believe this is an effect of the nearby boundary of the solar wind, a stream of charged particles that comes from the sun.

'"This study provides very strong evidence that Voyager 1 is in a region where the magnetic field is being deflected by the solar wind," said Schwadron, lead author of the study.

'Researchers predict that in 10 years Voyager 1 will reach a more "pristine" region of the interstellar medium where the solar wind does not significantly influence the magnetic field.

'Voyager 1's crossing into interstellar space meant it had left the heliosphere -- the bubble of solar wind surrounding our sun and the planets. Observations from Voyager's instruments found that the particle density was 40 times greater outside this boundary than inside, confirming that it had indeed left the heliosphere.

'But so far, Voyager 1's observation of the direction of the local interstellar magnetic field is more than 40 degrees off from what other spacecraft have determined. The new study suggests this discrepancy exists because Voyager 1 is in a more distorted magnetic field just outside the heliopause, which is the boundary between the solar wind and the interstellar medium.

'"If you think of the magnetic field as a rubber band stretched around a beach ball, that band is being deflected around the heliopause," Schwadron said.

'In 2009, NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) discovered a "ribbon" of energetic neutral atoms that is thought to hold clues to the direction of the pristine interstellar magnetic field. The so-called "IBEX ribbon," which forms a circular arc in the sky, remains mysterious, but scientists believe it is produced by a flow of neutral hydrogen atoms from the solar wind that were re-ionized in nearby interstellar space and then picked up electrons to become neutral again.

'The new study uses multiple data sets to confirm that the magnetic field direction at the center of the IBEX ribbon is the same direction as the magnetic field in the pristine interstellar medium. Observations from the NASA/ESA Ulysses and SOHO spacecraft also support the new findings.

'"All of these different data sets that have been collected over the last 25 years have been pointing toward the same meeting point in the field," Schwadron said.

'Over time, the study suggests, at increasing distances from the heliosphere, the magnetic field will be oriented more and more toward "true north," as defined by the IBEX ribbon. By 2025, if the field around Voyager 1 continues to steadily turn, Voyager 1 will observe the same magnetic field direction as IBEX. That would signal Voyager 1's arrival in a less distorted region of the interstellar medium.

'"It's an interesting way to look at the data. It gives a prediction of how long we'll have to go before Voyager 1 is in the medium that's no longer strongly perturbed," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist, based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who was not involved in this study.

'While Voyager 1 will continue delivering insights about interstellar space, its twin probe Voyager 2 is also expected to cross into the interstellar medium within the next few years. Voyager 2 will make additional observations of the magnetic field in interstellar space and help scientists refine their estimates.

'Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched 16 days apart in 1977. Both spacecraft flew by Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 also flew by Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2, launched before Voyager 1, is the longest continuously operated spacecraft. Voyager 1 is the most distant object touched by human hands.

'JPL, a division of Caltech, built the twin Voyager spacecraft and operates them for the Heliophysics Division within NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.’

Reference:

(1) http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/voyager-1-helps-solve-interstellar-medium-mystery
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Re: Alfven and Juergens Circuits, a Reconciliation?

Postby Robertus Maximus » Wed 12 Oct 2016 11:12 am

The Starspot Cycle of Proxima Centauri

A recent study has suggested the existence of yet another star displaying cyclical spot activity- Proxima Centauri (Alpha Centauri C).
The puzzle this time is Proxima Centauri is classed as a Red Dwarf star and as such any internal dynamo should have shut down long ago.
‘“The existence of a cycle in Proxima Centauri shows that we don’t understand how stars’ magnetic fields are generated as well as we thought we did,” says Smithsonian co-author Jeremy Drake.’

Another admission that stellar and solar science is far from the settled science we are led to believe.

The researchers used several years of optical, UV, and X-ray observations and confirmed ‘previous reports of an 83-day rotational period and find strong evidence for a 7-year stellar cycle, along with indications of differential rotation at about the solar level.’ It could be that Proxima Centauri is an X-ray variable star, as is the Sun, perhaps X-ray variability is a common indicator of stellar cycles.

In the case of Proxima Centauri the nature of the cycle probably indicates that the Birkeland Current focussed on the Centauri system is usurped by the two main stars of the system, A and B, and is more filamentary at Proxima.

It would be interesting to see if Alpha Centauri A and B displayed a 22 year cycle- although any cycle could potentially be disrupted by the binary nature of the central pair.

We can now speculate about the recent announcement of the discovery of a planet, Proxima b, orbiting Proxima Centauri. Does this planet function as a secondary electrode in the circuit powering Proxima Centauri as do the planets in our solar system?

Perhaps it does?

References:
http://astronomynow.com/2016/10/11/proxima-centauri-might-be-more-sun-like-than-we-thought/
http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/10/08/mnras.stw2570.abstract?keytype=ref&ijkey=rDKIzbzrnsgyvS4
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Re: Alfven and Juergens Circuits, a Reconciliation?

Postby Robertus Maximus » Tue 03 Jan 2017 6:33 pm

Earth’s leaking atmosphere as a Solar Wind analogy at Solar Minimum

From this article we find a Sun-Earth analogy: http://phys.org/print387182978.html

‘…at Earth's poles the field lines are open, like those of a standard bar magnet (these locations are named the polar cusps). Here, solar wind particles can head inwards towards Earth, filling up the magnetosphere with energetic particles.

Just as particles can head inwards down these open polar lines, particles can also head outwards. Ions from Earth's upper atmosphere – the ionosphere, which extends to roughly 1000 km above the Earth – also flood out to fill up this region of space. Although missions such as Cluster have discovered much, the processes involved remain unclear.’

We have ‘hot electrons’ arriving at the poles and ‘cold ions’ depart, an Earth Wind rather than a Solar Wind if you prefer.

Furthermore, Earth is losing 90 tonnes of material per day, in contrast the Sun is losing some 86 billion tonnes of material per day, the Electric Sun hypothesis interprets this ‘mass loss’ as part of an electrical circuit. Can we speculate that both the Earth and Sun are ‘losing mass’ from their upper atmospheres as a result of similar electrical circuits?

In the case of the Earth the circuit is ‘fixed’ – influenced by Earth’s intrinsic charge. Incoming current can power a glow mode discharge at high latitude regions- the aurora. In fact the ‘wind’ that leaves the Earth is known as the Polar Wind. This ‘wind’ is normally steady (Slow) but elevated periods of solar activity can substantially increase the flow (Fast). See: http://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/news/9812/solar1.html and http://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/news/9812/solarwind.html

The Sun not only collects electrons from its environment but emits an electron deficient current to its environment, Earl Milton explains why: ‘The solar wind, a flow of electron-deficient atoms (ions) away from the Sun, carries the electric current. That a negatively charged body like the Sun can increase its charge by emitting a proton wind is reasonable only if the space surrounding the Sun is more negatively charged than is the Sun itself!’ (1)

When considering the Sun and Solar Cycle I have suggested the circuit rather than being fixed ‘rotates’ (the Solar Cycle) and powers an arc mode discharge. At Solar Minimum incoming current is concentrated at low solar latitudes where we find the Slow Solar Wind (SSW). Although located at low solar latitudes this situation would be analogous to Earth’s Polar Wind leaving most of the heliosphere occupied by the Fast Solar Wind (FSW).

At Solar Maximum the structured FSW disappears as the incoming current is now filamentary and highly inclined- we can consider the resultant sunspots to be analogous to ‘small’ isolated Polar Winds.

Planetary magnetospheres do not change polarity with the Solar Cycle because they are not, in the main, influenced by the current powering the Sun; planetary magnetospheres are influenced instead by the electron-deficient current from the Sun. (2)

I have previously suggested that the Uranian magnetosphere can serve as an analogy for the Solar Cycle and heliosphere. We can now add the Earth’s magnetosphere, this time as an analogy of Solar Minimum. As plasma phenomena are scalable perhaps by studying the Earth’s electrical environment we can learn how the Sun is powered- the answer may be closer to home than we think.

References and Notes:

1. Milton. Earl. R. 1980. Electric Stars in a Gravity-Less Electrified Cosmos. SIS Review Vol. 5 No 1.
2. Although taking no part in the discharge powering the Sun planetary magnetospheres can act as secondary electrodes, intercepting some electrons headed for the Sun and of course, cosmic rays.
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Re: Alfven and Juergens Circuits, a Reconciliation?

Postby Robertus Maximus » Tue 07 Feb 2017 8:08 pm

Consider the evidence

In his presentation Bob Johnson asked us to ‘consider the evidence’ which I have and suggested that the JMST Electric Sun hypothesis is essentially the correct description of how the Sun shines, with one modification explaining the origin of the solar cycle, to summarise I will address each point in turn by quoting Bob Johnson:

a. Balancing charge delivered via coronal torus:

‘But there is a problem. The torus forms at solar minimum when there are no sunspots, and disappears at solar maximum when sunspots are most numerous. [Newton 1958] Another problem is that the source of the balancing positive charge isn’t explained.

‘Presumably, protons must come from intergalactic space along with the electrons otherwise the heliosphere would become negatively charged. But that seems to contradict the anode model.’

The timing of the development and evolution of the torus and appearance and disappearance of sunspots are resolved in my proposal. The sunspot cycle had previously assumed to provide a ‘balancing charge’ the origin of which was not explained but is this really necessary? As Juergens explained a potential difference exists between a highly negatively charged Sun and its environment which carries a greater negative charge, Juergens writes: ‘But if the sun finds itself, as I suggest, in an environment whose electric potential is strongly negative (below absolute zero of potential), it will be induced to take on negative charge to reduce its intrinsic potential. And thus its surface gases will become negatively charged; there will be no need for excess or even compensating positive charges to be found anywhere on or in the solar body.’(1)

Therefore, through the discharge mechanism the Sun is compelled to accept more negative charge not a balancing positive charge. Indeed, it appears that most of the discharge current is carried by protons leaving the Sun as the ‘solar wind’, amounting to approximately 10-14 solar masses per year. If the Sun has radiated energy at the present level for the past 4 billion years then this mass loss amounts to about 0.001 per cent of the Sun's mass. Clearly, the Sun has yet to reach the potential of its environment.

b. The drift current should be measurable, not unobservable:

‘If all electrons present at 1AU radius are drifting towards the Sun, they must have an average drift velocity of ~350 km/s. This (is) almost the speed of the slow Solar Wind away from the Sun. This velocity should be obvious, but it’s very difficult to find in the published data.’

The FSW has a velocity of approximately 750km/s, the FSW ‘disappears’ at solar maximum. The SSW has a velocity of approximately 350km/s and is present throughout the whole solar cycle. At solar minimum the SSW is confined to the Sun’s equatorial regions at solar maximum it reaches high latitudes as I have described. The SSW exhibits the properties it does because it is the region of the heliosphere occupied by the drift current impeding the outflow of a globally distributed FSW. The drift current is in the published data it is just how that data is interpreted.

c. Proton & Electron temperatures:

‘The measured data seems to indicate that both the protons and the electrons in the solar wind receive additional energy as they get further from the Sun.’

The SWOOPS instrument data from the Ulysses mission shows a complex electron temperature profile one that is more related to the solar cycle than distance from the Sun. The data shows a spike in electron temperature at the solar equator during solar minimum, during maximum this spike is less focussed, again this would be in line with what I have suggested.

(SWOOPS data can be found here: http://ufa.esac.esa.int/ufa/ Select 'Plots' then select SWOOPS-ELECTRONS from the 'Instrument' menu)

‘This plot from Cranmer (2009) shows proton & electron temperatures in the fast SW plotted against radial distance, from the Helios & Ulysses missions.

‘Strangely, the electron temperature branches beyond 2AU. The lower values near the black curve occurred at solar minimum; the uptick of blue points occurs at solar maxima.

‘This should not occur if the electrons are being accelerated by an anode Sun. Nor should the effect be dependent on the solar cycle.’

What I have suggested explicitly demands that such an effect is dependent on the solar cycle. The uptick in temperature of the FSW at solar maximum occurs because current is now arriving at high solar latitudes it is during this time that the FSW ‘disappears’.

d. The three Electron populations:

‘Let’s look at the electrons in more detail. Stervak (2009) tells us: “The electron velocity distribution functions observed in the solar wind typically exhibit three different components: a core, a halo and a strahl population..” .. the strahl appears as a beam-like population moving .. away from the Sun .. along the .. magnetic field.” In the figure, the strahl population is the white zone under the starred curve to the right of the thermal core and non-thermal halo populations. Note that there is no corresponding strahl population moving towards the Sun on the left of the diagram.

This is clear evidence that electrons are moving away from the Sun faster than the protons. Taken together, these various strands of evidence seem to argue against an anode Sun.’

The electron strahl appears only in the FSW. Observations by NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft reveal that the strahl do not behave as expected: ‘“Wherever we look, the electron strahl is much wider than we would have expected," says Eric Christian, the NASA's deputy project scientist for ACE at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "So there must be some process that helps scatter the electrons into a wider beam."… On the open field lines, the most common width by far is about ten times the size of the thin beam of electrons expected if there had been no extra scattering. The closed field lines, however, showed a nearly equal number of strahls at that width and at a width some four times even larger…"We don't yet know how the electrons get scattered into these different widths," says Skoug.’(2)

On the issue of electrons in the heliosphere, according to the Electric Sun hypothesis, Juergens writes: ‘it could be anticipated that these electrons would exhibit "two temperatures", as it were, or two "superimposed Maxwellian distributions, one of relatively high mean energy . . . consisting of primary electrons from the cathode which have been scattered and the other of much lower energy comprising secondary electrons which have been produced by ionisation of the gas" (I. Langmuir and K.T. Compton Review of Modern Physics, April 1930).’(3)

At solar minimum, when the FSW is present, an ordered global dipole magnetic structure exists in the heliosphere; it would appear that the strahl are scattered electrons following ordered magnetic ‘field lines’ that are dominant at solar minimum.

Now over forty years old Juergens’ Electric Sun hypothesis has stood the test of time- and new discoveries.

References:

1. Pensée IVR-III Volume 3, No. 1 (Winter, 1973)
2. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/ace-electron-strahl.html
3. SIS Review Vol 2, No. 2 (Dec, 1977)
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Re: Alfven and Juergens Circuits, a Reconciliation?

Postby Robertus Maximus » Thu 09 Feb 2017 6:31 pm

Has STEREO found the Drift Current?

Observations by NASA’s twin STEREO spacecraft (1) observing the Sun have revealed ‘inbound waves’ in the solar corona.
Studies of the Streamer Belt- where we find the Slow Solar Wind (SSW) and Coronal Holes- where we find the Fast Solar Wind (FSW) both revealed ‘inbound features’.

The observations took place in August 2007 ‘during a quiet period near solar minimum with a small amount of coronal activity and no instrumental anomalies.’

In the streamer belt, outbound features such as Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) and what researches called ‘blobs’ were observed, whereas inbound features comprised of ‘myriad diffuse inbound features in the lower corona’. It was also found that: ‘Superposed on the large-scale pattern is a lower-amplitude, more complex background signal that is present at all azimuths.’ The background signal was present in both the streamer belt and coronal holes although the coronal hole regions lacked the large scale structures of the streamer belt.

What the researchers termed as waves oscillated about once every four hours and were about 10 times the length of Earth. ‘The inbound fluctuations observed in the coronal hole are wholly new and identification is important to understand the phenomenon being observed. The coherence of individual fluctuations…indicates that the features are not noise. The observed smoothly varying preferred speed versus radius strongly indicates wave motion…’ (2)

From data returned by the STEREO spacecraft NASA produced highly processed movies showing wave motions moving downward through the solar corona toward the Sun.

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-stereo-maps-much-larger-solar-atmosphere-than-previously-observed/

When viewing the movie (see link above) it is clear that both outbound and inbound activity is concentrated in two regions approximately 180 degrees apart, inbound features can be seen that display a subtle twist. In other regions we see the ‘background signal’.

The STEREO observations were conducted during solar minimum, I have previously suggested that at solar minimum current arrives at the Sun in a structured manner and in the equatorial regions as the Heliospheric Current Sheet (HCS) displays very little tilt.

I had previously commented on findings from the SOHO mission: ‘During solar cycle 23 SOHO discovered what mission scientists called ‘Mysterious clouds of gas falling towards the Sun’, they were ‘mysterious’ because they ‘go against the fast-moving streams of gas that pour out continuously into space, in the solar wind’. From this European Space Agency (ESA) report we find: ‘About 8000 inflow events have now been logged - most of them since 1998 while the Sun has been at its most active, as judged by the high count of sunspots. The inflows can start at an altitude of up to 2,700,000 kilometres above the visible surface, a distance equal to twice the Sun's diameter. Here the accelerating solar wind, leaving the Sun, has reached a speed of about 120 kilometres per second. Fighting against it, the gas clouds travel in at 50-100 kilometres per second. Typically they appear to come to rest about 700,000 kilometres out.’

‘However, the LASCO instrument aboard SOHO was designed to explore the region from 700,000 to 3,500,000 kilometres from the visible surface, so it is possible that the inflows of gas descended much closer to the photosphere. Of course we are really talking about plasma not ‘clouds of gas’.

‘The report continued: ‘Although the gas feels a very strong pull from the Sun's gravity, this is not the decisive force acting on the inflows. The high rate at which they gather speed initially, and their eventual slowdown, suggest instead that they are firmly under the control of a magnetic force. A few inflows are a backwash from explosive mass ejections, which are sporadic events, but the overwhelming majority occur quite regularly within regions of slow solar wind.

‘‘A downpour of 20 inflows per day, seen on the left side of the Sun, can be followed after a lull of two weeks by a similar downpour seen on the right side. This means that the occurrences persist in a particular region on the Sun, which takes two weeks to move from left to right as the Sun rotates. The regional association can continue for months...’ (my emphasis).

‘The inflow events occurred as the solar cycle was progressing to solar maximum, inflows on one side of the Sun were visible two weeks later on the other side- sunspots can take approximately two weeks to traverse the solar disc! There appears to be a correlation between sunspots and inflow events, almost as if the Birkeland currents, responsible for the formation of sunspots, are causing an avalanche of plasma from the corona toward the photosphere. Plus, the LASCO instrument could only detect inflows on the solar limb, is it possible that there never was a two week lull, rather, the inflows had simply rotated out of the view of SOHO? The evidence from SOHO indicates that close to the Sun a constant flow of plasma toward the Sun is present.’ (3)

We now have observations from two missions observing the Sun, one approaching solar maximum, another during solar minimum. During both periods ‘inflows’ and ‘inbound features’ were observed. Both observations reveal an increase of speed with height the ESA report noted ‘that they are firmly under the control of a magnetic force’, this strongly suggests an electrical rather than a mechanical cause, is the background signal the ‘drift current’ of a Juergens circuit?

The upcoming Solar Probe Plus mission (4) is scheduled to approach the Sun far closer than any spacecraft to date and will eventually explore the region where inflow features are found. During this period and at its closest approach the spacecraft may well confirm the Electric Sun model.

References:

1. https://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/
2. DeForest. C.E. et al. 2014. Inbound Waves in the Solar Corona: A Direct Indicator of Alfven Surface Location. Astrophysical Journal, 787:124
3. http://sci.esa.int/soho/28996-soho-s-latest-surprise-gas-near-the-sun-heading-the-wrong-way/
4. http://solarprobe.jhuapl.edu/
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