Final Call APPENDIX Science - Part1

Final Call Science Appendix
New Essays and Compendium from May 2014 through XXX 2014
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Appendix on
Cosmology, Space & Earth
http://www.pfcn.net/bulletins/final%20call-appendix-science-7.pdf
Contents:
Introductory comments page 3

Fabric of Reality page 4
Existence Itself: Towards the Phenomenology of Massive Dissipative/Replicative
Structures page 4
The Cosmos Is Cracked page 7
A computer simulation of the universe shows that it may be filled with defects in
spacetime page 8
Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster of Galaxies page 11
A short video and commentary on Laniakea p12
The Cosmic Web - What does the universe look like at a VERY large scale? p13
Planet-X (again) Not one, but perhaps two or three giant planet-like objects "out
there"? page 15
Tracking Changes in the Galaxy Preface page 20
The Polarized Milky Way page 21
A Blue Bridge of Stars between Cluster Galaxies page 23
Fermi Bubbles Defy Explanation page 24
The Ophiuchus Superbubble: A Gigantic Eruption from the Inner Disk of the
Milky Way page 27
Supernova SN 2014J Explodes page 29
Glimpses of a Huge Galaxy Formation page 31
Dead Galaxies Defy Galactic Formation Theories page 34
Simulations reveal an unusual death for ancient stars page 38
Detection Of Galactic Center Source G2 page 41
Star With Accretion Disc Embedded Inside A Knot Of Dust page 43
Swift X-ray October 2014 Observations of the Galactic Center page 46
Earth Changes and Planetary Inner Dynamics page 48
Earths Core page 49
Hawaiian Volcanism page 50
Magma in Earth's Mantle Forms Deeper Than Once Thought page 51
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E-mail: info@pfcn.net
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Unusual behaviour in Earth's inner core explained page 51

Growth of Earth's inner core may be precursor to magnetic reversal page 54
Compositional instability of Earth's solid inner core page 58
Anomalous splitting of core sensitive modes: a reevaluation of possible
interpretations page 59
Why Earth's Magnetic Field Is Wonky page 62
Earth's magnetic field could flip within a human lifetime page 64
Earths Iron Core is not Rock Solid page 67
The Truth about Earth's Core? page 67
Earth's lower mantle chemistry breakthrough page 69
When the Hawaiian Islands Collapse and Fall Apart in Landslides page 71
Textbook Theory Behind Volcanoes May be Wrong page 73
New insight into the temperature of deep Earth page 75
Mantle updrafts and mechanisms of oceanic volcanism page 77
Earth as Source of Surface Water page 78
Vast ocean lays under Earth mantle, may be wellspring for world's oceans page 79
New evidence for oceans of water deep in the Earth page 80
Minimizing Predation and Consumption and Waste: An Interim Life Form?
page 85
Meet the electric life forms that live on pure energy page 86
Spark of life revisited thanks to electric bacteria page 90
On the Trail of Dark Energy: Physicists Propose Higgs Boson Portal page 91
Casimir Effect page 92
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Introductory comments:
October 2014
Our work is all about point-of-view perspective as defined by the general vibrational
state of awareness that is doing the viewing. In short, you step outside of the box,
outside the entire duality game that limits your awareness to proscribed choices that are
themselves falsehoods. When the information is not aimed at reinforcing erroneous
beliefs, space and earth science can provide glimpses into changes to the fabric of reality
as well as planetary and galactic dynamics. Merely one way of expanding ones sense of
reality. Call it plane of view, as in vibrational plane of existence and consciousness.
The bridging of a high vibrational plane perspective with a lower plane (as in human 3d
density, for example) makes for a very broad minded state of awareness. Very.
What might have seemed to the lower human-level perspective as a contradiction or
conflict that requiring some material or intellectual resolution, no longer does.
This allows seemingly mutually contradictory or duality tendencies to be embraced
without the observer identifying with either perspective.
And yet, one can shift their point of view like going up or down in an elevator to see
the street level view or to ride it up as far as possible to get a higher level point of view
which includes with it more degrees of freedom, thus it becomes exponentially
expanded, not merely in an incrementally or linearly manner.
This is also about letting go of attachments to various presumptive errors concerning
the perceived nature of reality. For example, the human sciences are deluded with
notions of the speed of light as a constant reference of measurement and that of
notions of time which are purely derived from a human 3d density point of view
projected out over cosmically small distances.
Over recent years I have commented that the human sciences will eventually be
detecting anomalies in the fabric of ordinary reality both Earthly atomic materiality
and farther reaching cosmological reality. Here I share a few recent examples from
earth and space sciences and physics, many of were published only this year. Some of
the insights suggested by these scientists and some of the computer representations are
remarkably close to what some of been noticing through their higher level inner
awareness.
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Fabric of Reality
November 1, 2013
In 2013 when I was preparing the Concluding Essays series, I had thought to include a
few discussions from the human sciences on the fabric of material reality.
Over the years, I have stated that to expect new insights from those engaged in advanced
science discovery that would be derivative indicators of spiritual energies. These would
apply to near and far reaches of space and time as well as the sub-atomic and
particle/wave levels of investigations.
In recent years reports of instability in the decay rate of certain radioisotopes have been
found with hints that solar or other space energies may be related. More recently there
have been increasing reports of planets that exist without any solar system and more
recent speculations that this may be more common than solar system planet dynamics.
Related NES Forum links:
http://www.newearthsummit.org/pfcn/Bulletins/Dissipation.pdf
http://www.newearthsummit.org/pfcn/Bulletins/Dissipation-Appendix.pdf
Main site links:
http://www.pfcn.net/bulletins/Dissipation.pdf
http://www.pfcn.net/bulletins/Dissipation-Appendix.pdf
The first piece is a 26-page paper which for readers convenience was archived as a PDF
as of October 2014 and a link placed here:
www.pfcn.net/bulletins/The Phenomenology of Dissipative-Replicative Structures.pdf
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Existence Itself: Towards the Phenomenology of Massive

Dissipative/Replicative Structures
by David M. Keirsey
(under evolution)
Abstract
Entities such as the Web, mankind, life, the earth, the solar system, the Milky way, and
our universe are viewed as massive dissipative/replicative structures.
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This paper will examine the structure and process of massive dissipative/ replicative
structures. In addition, it will examine the concept of massive dissipative/replicative
structures and what are the necessary issues in structuring the scientific understanding
of the phenomena. The methodology of comparative complexity is suggested to help in
the construction and analysis of scientific theories.
Link to his webpage : http://edgeoforder.org/pofdisstruct.html
Following are the initial lead-in paragraphs for section of this paper:
Chapter 1. Introduction
The concept of the phenomenon of a dissipative structure has become an extremely
useful concept in explaining how the world works. It appears that entities such as
the Web, mankind, life, the earth, the solar system, the Milky way, and our universe
are examples of this phenomenon [Prigogine97, Smolin97, Langton80]. On the
other hand, the fact that all of these massive dissipative structures must also exhibit
replicative properties, has been one major failing of modeling in the scientific
enterprise.
This paper will examine the structure and process of massive dissipative/replicative
structures. In addition, it will examine the concept of massive dissipative/replicative
structures and what are the necessary issues in structuring the scientific understanding
of the phenomena. Lastly, I will suggest a methodology that can help in the construction
and analysis of scientific theories.
Dis -sipa -tive: dis- = apart, supare = to throw (to throw apart)
Re -plica -tive: re = again, plicate = to fold (to refold)
Structure: structura = a fitting together
In particle physics, the word "dissipative" is not use extensively, for they assert that
quantum structures are not dissipative. On the other hand, physics tells us there is
some equivalence between mass and energy, and quantum structures can exchange
energy and often "spontaneously emit" energy in the form of bosons. This use of the
word "spontaneous" is analogous to the unjustified finesse in using the phrase
"spontaneous generation" taken by pre-Pasteur scientists regarding life. The slight of
hand in particle physicist's phrase "spontaneously emit or decay" alerts one to the fact
that physical theories cannot explain the underlying process, except by a nonontological satisfying mathematical operation (quantum mechanics) that mimics the
behavior. Because of this, I will generalize the notion of "dissipation" to include the
notion of "thermodynamic." That is, "thermodynamic" means to include "dissipative"
of energy or matter - space and time. Since all physical systems are
"thermodynamic," then all systems are "dissipative," including bosons and the universe.
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Chapter 2. The Dilemma of Science
Every scientist's given is another's analytic goal
Susan Oyama
When discussing the creation, evolution, and the underlying nature of long-term natural
entities, there has been a gradual realization that using reductionistic methods and
terminology has lead to an impasse in understanding. For example, the current crisis in
quantum mechanics (the disconnect with relativity) has lead several researchers
[Bohm93, Smolin97, Prigogine97, Rosen91] to question the underlying
characterization. Particle physics has had to turn to cosmology and astrophysics to help
in finding models of the creation and evolution of the microscopic entities based on the
state of the entire universe. Also recently, the incompleteness of the neo-darwinian
model of evolution has been exposed by questions posed by researchers, such as,
Margulis and Lovelock on the relationship between the biosphere, the solar system, and
life. The origin of life also seems shrouded in mystery, given that it is highly possible
that the origin of life occurred within the depths of the earth's crust [Gold98], where
biologists have little clue of the metabolic and genetic processes of these
organisms. Finally, can the future of mankind be addressed without understanding the
role of the Gaia [ Lovelock87] and Hypersea [McMenanim94] hypotheses and their
connection to the future evolution of the Internet and our future mind children?
On the other hand, scientific progress has been practically synonymous with the
methodology of reductionism and the atomic hypothesis. If science is practically defined
by the notions of "simplifying the problem" and analysis of the working of the parts of a
system, then what techniques and methodologies are alternatives or additions to this
most successful approach.
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The Cosmos Is Cracked
A computer simulation of the universe shows that it may be filled with defects in
spacetime(from Scientific American - Oct 2013)
Article lead in: If the prospect of an ever-expanding universe that eventually stretches
into a vast emptiness isnt depressing enough, theres this: the universe may have cracks
in it. Continued at link:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cosmic-strings-cracked-cosmos
Note: The image shown in the October 2013 Scientific American article is actually from
January 30, 2008 the date this image was released and was posted to the European
Southern Observatory website. Link: http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0804a/
Why does it take more than 5 years to publish this piece in a mainstream science
magazine? Sci Amer wants $500 (non-profit rate) to show the full article here and
does not include the image. But then the image is not theirs.
Caption from ESO web page:
Snapshot from a computer simulation of the
formation of large-scale structures in the
Universe, showing a patch of 100 million
light-years and the resulting coherent motions
of galaxies flowing towards the highest mass
concentration in the centre. The snapshot
refers to an epoch about 10 billion years back
in time. The colour scale represents the mass
density, with the highest density regions
painted in red and the lowest in black. The
tiny yellow lines describe the intensity and
direction of the galaxy's velocities. Like
compass needles, they map the infall pattern
and measure the rate of growth of the central
structure. This depends on the subtle balance
between dark matter, dark energy and the
expansion of the Universe. Astronomers can
measure this effect using large survey of
galaxies at different epochs in time, as shown
by the new research.
http://www.eso.org/public/usa/images/eso0804a/
Credit: Klaus Dolag and equipment

VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey
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The Cosmos Is Cracked
A computer simulation of the universe shows that it may be filled with

defects in spacetime
Oct 8, 2013 |By Clara Moskowitz
If the prospect of an ever-expanding universe that eventually stretches into a vast
emptiness isnt depressing enough, theres this: the universe may have cracks in it.
Cracks, called cosmic strings, are topological defects in spacetime that might have
formed when the universe was young. Experiments havent found any proof that cosmic
strings are even out there, but that hasnt stopped physicists from calculating how many
strings we might expect there to be if, in fact, they turn out to exist after all. And its a
lot: cosmic strings would produce at least a billion loops throughout the visible universe
today, researchers report. Cosmic strings are these filaments which wind and sneak
throughout the universe, says study co-author Benjamin Shlaer of Tufts University.
They are essentially one-dimensional fault lines in space, made not of mass but pure
energy. Some could be infinitely long, and all are almost impossibly thin, much
narrower than a proton.
Cosmic strings may have formed as the universe cooled after the big bang. Just as water
undergoes a phase transition from liquid to solid when it freezes, the universe changed
radically when it went through a transition from being extremely hot and dense in the
instants just after the big bang to slightly cooler and more rarefied just a few fractions of
a second later. According to a popular theory, in the hot and dense universe three of the
four forces of nature (weak, strong and electromagnetic) were unified but in the cooler
universe they separated. When this symmetry among the forces broke, it might have
created topological defects in the form of strings, so named because they would be long,
thin fissures in space. (Despite the similar names, cosmic strings may or may not be
related to the strings predicted to make up fundamental particles in string theory .)
These strings would have started off tangled and wrinkly when the universe was in its
hot, dense state but would have stretched out over time as space itself expanded. This
movement would cause some strings to cross others. When they wind back on
themselves they break so that the wrinkles snap off as closed loops, like little rubber
bands. The loops are what astronomers might be able to detect because they would
oscillate, producing measurable ripples in spacetime called gravitational waves.
Shlaer and his colleagues created a numerical simulation of cosmic string loop
formation and ran it on a supercomputer cluster at the university. The results told them
how big loops are likely to be when they form, and by extrapolating, the researchers
calculated the number and size of the loops that might exist in the universe at any given
time. The results depend on how taut the strings area property determined by the
temperature of the universe when they were formed. For a likely range of tensions, the
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scientists calculated that billions of cosmic string loops could exist today. The Tufts
group has done a heroic job with the string simulations, and they pin down important
features of the loop distribution critical for predicting gravitational-wave emission and
their effects on millisecond pulsar timing, says Tanmay Vachaspati, a physicist at
Arizona State University in Tempe who wasnt involved in the research.
The new study gives observers a better idea of what to look for in the quest to find
evidence of cosmic strings. The strings would create gravitational waves that could be
detectable by elaborate wave-detecting facilities such as LIGO (the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory) in the U.S. or by studies of rapidly rotating stars called
pulsars, which emit beacons of light with clockwork precision. If astronomers on Earth
notice a change in the arrival time of light from pulsars, it could mean a gravitational
wave has hit our planet. The fact that no evidence for gravitational waves has yet been
found already eliminates the possibility of cosmic strings with a given range of tensions.
Whether or not any cosmic strings exist is still an open question.
If they are out there, now we know they would be abundant.
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END NOTES & GRAPHICS:

Compare this with other recent super computer simulations which, to my various
perspectives, illustrate with striking accuracy the interconnections of The All, the
connecting circuits of Spiritual Intelligences which I came to know. -ASK
(Below: This particular image shows how gas is distributed in the universe's most
massive cluster of galaxies, which is called Cluster 001. Scientists are using this new
simulation to create stunning images and video that help reveal many of the universe's
most complex mysteries...and help us remember how beautiful the cosmos really is. This
first one is "Bolshoi Fly-Through", which shows how dark matter shaped one particular
corner of the universe.
(Taken from video was developed by Anatoly Klypin and Joel Primack and visualized by
Chris Henze of the NASA Ames Research Center.)
Link: http://vimeo.com/21866269
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A NASA press release offers some

more information:
http://io9.com/5846159/a-computer-simulation-of-the-universes-complete-14-billion+yearevolution
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Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster of Galaxies

September 2014
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
It is not only one of the largest structures known -- it is our home. The just-identified
Laniakea Supercluster of galaxies contains thousands of galaxies that includes our Milky
Way Galaxy, the Local Group of galaxies, and the entire nearby Virgo Cluster of
Galaxies. The colossal supercluster is shown in the above computer-generated
visualization, where green areas are rich with white-dot galaxies and white lines indicate
motion towards the supercluster center. An outline of Laniakea is given in orange, while
the blue dot shows our location. Outside the orange line, galaxies flow into other galatic
concentrations. The Laniakea Supercluster spans about 500 million light years and
contains about 100,000 times the mass of our Milky Way Galaxy. The discoverers of
Laniakea gave it a name that means "immense heaven" in Hawaiian.
Image Credit: R. Brent Tully (U. Hawaii) et al., SDvision, DP, CEA/Saclay
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1) A short video and commentary on Laniakea:
(full screen and high resolution recommended):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No0omeHIxwo
2) And brief companion video with additional background:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v513/n7516/full/nature13674.html#videos
A few comments for your consideration:
These three presentations provide some of the most significant insights into structures
of creation, the the limits of human science. (The third one is introduced below,
following my brief remarks here.)
They show some of most detailed models from humans of a portion of this universe a
super cluster of galaxies. As with much of the space science material included in this
unusual Appendix to my final compilation, Hawaii-based space research centers were
involved.
The first two provide a more useful orientation to what I have referred to as one of
various levels of spatial/creational Void (they identify and refer to a local void not
to be confused with the greater void in which this entire creation and creator are
suspended) and these provide a more intelligent point of view of what earth-centric
humans refer to as zodiacal constellations.
I also call your attention have noted their estimation of an irregular membrane like
boundary layer; their identification of a great attractor that is drawing in portions of the
supercluster of galaxies; and their definition of an apparent massive scale separation
underway as their directional flow diagrams indicate.
This third set of models in blue may look familiar since I used some of these illustrations
in some of the issues of Global Awakening News and the A-List Updates. From my own
varied perspectives, I would say that they clustering of galaxies along this web-like
network is too tightly packed, except for those pockets of more densely arranged galactic
structures. As one views The All, traveling through it, these appear far more distant from
one another with longer lengths of these nerve fiber-like streams of conscious energy
conduits.
One of the parameters the researchers used was speed of light constants. To my greater
knowing the humanly-defined speed of light is not a constant and superluminal speed is
more the norm throughout the vastness of The All. Far faster than any human physics
+can acknowledge nearly instantaneous at times. Thus in all three of these amazing
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models, there is far more distortion shown due to the mistaken presumption about the
speed of light.
ASK
3) The Cosmic Web - What does the universe look like at a VERY large
scale? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74IsySs3RGU
Uploaded on Nov 6, 2010
The Millennium Simulation featured in this clip was run in 2005 by the Virgo
Consortium, an international group of astrophysicists from Germany, the United
Kingdom, Canada, Japan and the United States. A virtual cube of 2 billion light years on
a side was "filled" with 10 billion "particles" whose evolution was computed using the
physical laws expected to hold in the currently known cosmologies. The initial
distribution of matter, that resembled the conditions present when the cosmic
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microwave background radiation was emitted (about 379,000 years after the universe
began) was allowed to evolve, and the formation of galaxies and black holes in the
simulation were recorded. After all the computing work was done (28 days, at a rate of
200 billion calculations per second) 20 million galaxies were formed in the initial space.
These galaxies and the dark matter around them formed web-like structures that
resemble the shapes observed by the most recent data available in cosmic surveys, such
as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Also very importantly: the simulation provided support
for our current "standard model" of cosmology, the so called: Lambda Cold Dark Matter
Model.
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Planet-X (again)
Not one, but perhaps two or three giant planet-like objects "out there"?
June 15, 2014
Note:
Over the years a few individuals I am aware of "remote-viewed" or psychically "seen"
a very large, barely dull-red looking large planetoid object "out there in space" and
have noted it appears to be getting closer.
It is interesting as well that this could fit with various notions of "Nibiru" originally
popularized by Z Sitchin's translations of ancient writings.
Now it seems there is some indication that there may be two such bodies "out there"
influencing this solar system and whatever else. And that these are considered "beyond
reach" of human telescopes. (The Hubble space observatory as well?)
I mention this article at this time as something of passing interest, not as a distraction.
These objects may well be found to be "of influence" to Earth by astronomers. Likely by
that time, it will already by mostly "over and done with" here and will provide those
remaining with the some impetus to pay attention to what has always been Present for
them to consider and thus they encounter their own personal existential crisis.
This time, precipitated by something material and "external" that humans can do
nothing about. In the larger scheme of things, this matters little since the breakdown
and dissolution of the fallen creation zone will already be underway and these objects
may come to be regarded as localized instruments of much greater changes.
-ASK
-//-
Brown Dwarf? Planet-X? or just another Supernova?

While its mission did not involve a search for Planet X, the IRAS space observatory
made headlines briefly in 1983 due to an "unknown object" that was at first described as
"possibly as large as the giant planet Jupiter and possibly so close to Earth that it would
be part of this Solar System". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets_beyond_Neptune
[ Note: the IRAS probe did manage to image something that seemed not to emit light.
ASK ]
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On the left, the
blue spherical
shape was
recorded in radio
wavelengths in
1985 by the Very
Large Array. The
image on the
right shows the
same view taken
in 2008. It is
obvious that the
object is larger,
but critics say that this is not because the object is closer, but rather that the residual
"shell" from the exploding star has advanced out from its origin. They note the shape is
not spherical but consistent with the type of remnants usually seen with
supernova. (from http://www.viewzone.com/browndwarf2.html )
-//-
G1.9+0.3: The Remarkable Remains of a Recent Supernova

http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/g19/
G1.9+0.3 is the remains of the most recent supernova, in Earth's time frame, known
to have occurred in the Milky Way.
If gas and dust had not heavily obscured it, the explosion would have been visible
from Earth just over a century ago.
A new long Chandra observation - equivalent to over 11 days of time - reveals new
details about the explosion.
G1.9+0.3 is located about 28,000 light years from Earth near the center of the Milky
Way.
Astronomers estimate that a star explodes as a supernova in our Galaxy, on average,

about twice per century. In 2008, a team of scientists announced they discovered the
remains of a supernova that is the most recent, in Earth's time frame, known to have
occurred in the Milky Way.
The explosion would have been visible from Earth a little more than a hundred years
ago if it had not been heavily obscured by dust and gas. Its likely location is about
28,000 light years from Earth near the center of the Milky Way. A long observation
equivalent to more than 11 days of observations of its debris field, now known as the
supernova remnant G1.9+0.3, with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is providing
new details about this important event.
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The source of G1.9+0.3 was most likely a white dwarf star that underwent a
thermonuclear detonation and was destroyed after merging with another white dwarf,
or pulling material from an orbiting companion star. This is a particular class of
supernova explosions (known as Type Ia) that are used as distance indicators in
cosmology because they are so consistent in brightness and incredibly luminous.
The explosion ejected stellar debris at high velocities, creating the supernova remnant
that is seen today by Chandra and other telescopes. This new image is a composite
from Chandra where low-energy X-rays are red, intermediate energies are green and
higher-energy ones are blue. Also shown are optical data from the Digitized Sky
Survey, with appearing stars in white. The new Chandra data, obtained in 2011, reveal
that G1.9+0.3 has several remarkable properties.
The Chandra data show that most of the X-ray emission is "synchrotron radiation,"
produced by extremely energetic electrons accelerated in the rapidly expanding blast
wave of the supernova. This emission gives information about the origin of cosmic rays
- energetic particles that constantly strike the Earth's atmosphere - but not much
information about Type Ia supernovas.
In addition, some of the X-ray emission comes from elements produced in the
supernova, providing clues to the nature of the explosion. The long Chandra
observation was required to dig out those clues.
Most Type Ia supernova remnants are symmetrical in shape, with debris evenly
distributed in all directions. However, G1.9+0.3 exhibits an extremely asymmetric
pattern. The strongest X-ray emission from elements like silicon, sulfur, and iron is
found in the northern part of the remnant, giving an extremely asymmetric pattern.
Another exceptional feature of this remnant is that iron, which is expected to form
deep in the doomed star's interior and move relatively slowly, is found far from the
center and is moving at extremely high speeds of over 3.8 million miles per hour. The
iron is mixed with lighter elements expected to form further out in the star.
Because of the uneven distribution of the remnant's debris and their extreme velocities,
the researchers conclude that the original supernova explosion also had very unusual
properties. That is, the explosion itself must have been highly non-uniform and
unusually energetic.
By comparing the properties of the remnant with theoretical models, the researchers
found hints about the explosion mechanism. Their favorite concept for what happened
in G1.9+0.3 is a "delayed detonation", where the explosion occurs in two different
phases. First, nuclear reactions occur in a slowly expanding wavefront, producing iron
and similar elements. The energy from these reactions causes the star to expand,
changing its density and allowing a much faster-moving detonation front of nuclear
reactions to occur.
If the explosion were highly asymmetric, then there should be large variations in
expansion rate in different parts of the remnant. These should be measurable with
future observations with X-rays using Chandra and radio waves with the NSF's Karl G.
Jansky Very Large Array.
Observations of G1.9+0.3 allow astronomers a special, close-up view of a young
supernova remnant and its rapidly changing debris. Many of these changes are driven
by the radioactive decay of elements ejected in the explosion. For example, a large
amount of antimatter should have formed after the explosion by radioactive decay of
cobalt. Based on the estimated mass of iron, which is formed by radioactive decay of
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nickel to cobalt to iron, over a hundred million trillion (ie ten raised to the power of
twenty) pounds of positrons, the antimatter counterpart to electrons, should have
formed. However, nearly all of these positrons should have combined with electrons
and been destroyed, so no direct observational signature of this antimatter should
remain.
A paper describing these results is available online and will be published in the July 1,
2013 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The first author is Kazimierz
Borkowski of North Carolina State University (NCSU), in Raleigh, NC and his coauthors are Stephen Reynolds, also of NCSU; Una Hwang from NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD; David Green from Cavendish Laboratory in
Cambridge, UK; Robert Petre, also from GSFC; Kalyani Krishnamurthy from Duke
University in Durham, NC and Rebecca Willett, also from Duke University.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra
program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from
Cambridge, Mass.
-//-
Two giant planets may cruise unseen beyond Pluto

11 June 2014 by Nicola Jenner
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25711-two-giant-planets-may-cruise-unseen-beyondpluto.html?#.U53s2nlOVaS
The monsters are multiplying. Just months after astronomers announced hints of a
giant "Planet X" lurking beyond Pluto, a team in Spain says there may actually be two
supersized planets hiding in the outer reaches of our solar system.
When potential dwarf planet 2012 VP113 was discovered in March, it joined a handful of
unusual rocky objects known to reside beyond the orbit of Pluto. These small objects
have curiously aligned orbits, which hints that an unseen planet even further out is
influencing their behaviour. Scientists calculated that this world would be about 10
times the mass of Earth and would orbit at roughly 250 times Earth's distance from the
sun.
Now Carlos and Raul de la Fuente Marcos at the Complutense University of Madrid in
Spain have taken another look at these distant bodies. As well as confirming their
bizarre orbital alignment, the pair found additional puzzling patterns. Small groups of
the objects have very similar orbital paths. Because they are not massive enough to be
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tugging on each other, the researchers think the objects are being "shepherded" by a
larger object in a pattern known as orbital resonance.
Planet shepherd
For instance, we know that Neptune and Pluto are in orbital resonance for every two
orbits Pluto makes around the sun, Neptune makes three. Similarly, one group of small
objects seems to be in lockstep with a much more distant, unseen planet. That world
would have a mass between that of Mars and Saturn and would sit about 200 times
Earth's distance from the sun.
Some of the smaller objects have very elongated orbits that would take them out to this
distance. It is unusual for a large planet to orbit so close to other bodies unless it is
dynamically tied to something else, so the researchers suggest that the large planet is
itself in resonance with a more massive world at about 250 times the Earth-sun distance
just like the one predicted in the previous work.
Observing these putative planets will be tricky. The smaller bodies are on very elliptical
orbits and were only spotted when they ventured closest to the sun. But the big planets
would have roughly circular orbits and would be slow moving and dim, making them
tough for current telescopes to see. "It's not at all surprising that they haven't been
found yet," says Carlos.
"As there are only a few of these extremely distant objects known, it's hard to say
anything definitive about the number or location of any distant planets," says Scott
Sheppard at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC, one of the
discoverers of 2012 VP113. "However, in the near future we should have more objects to
work with to help us determine the structure of the outer solar system." Reference:
arxiv.org/abs/1406.0715
-//-
Extreme trans-Neptunian objects and the Kozai mechanism:

signaling the presence of trans-Plutonian planets?
Authors: C. de la Fuente Marcos, R. de la Fuente Marcos
(Submitted on 3 Jun 2014)
Abstract:
The existence of an outer planet beyond Pluto has been a matter of debate for decades
and the recent discovery of 2012 VP113 has just revived the interest for this
controversial topic. This Sedna-like object has the most distant perihelion of any known
minor planet and the value of its argument of perihelion is close to 0 degrees. This
property appears to be shared by almost all known asteroids with semimajor axis
greater than 150 au and perihelion greater than 30 au (the extreme trans-Neptunian
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objects or ETNOs), and this fact has been interpreted as evidence for the existence of a
super-Earth at 250 au. In this scenario, a population of stable asteroids may be
shepherded by a distant, undiscovered planet larger than the Earth that keeps the value
of their argument of perihelion librating around 0 degrees as a result of the Kozai
mechanism. Here, we study the visibility of these ETNOs and confirm that the observed
excess of objects reaching perihelion near the ascending node cannot be explained in
terms of any observational biases. This excess must be a true feature of this population
and its possible origin is explored in the framework of the Kozai effect. The analysis of
several possible scenarios strongly suggest that at least two trans-Plutonian planets
must exist. Link: arXiv:1406.0715v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version.
-//-
Tracking Changes in the Galaxy

August 14, 2014
Preface
While the superbubble is old news, there continues to be of important scientific
interest. The second article which follows this one is fairly recent and what got my
attention were comments concerning the seeming absence of matter. From my varied
perspectives, I take an interest in potential indicators of larger changes in local galactic
and universe environments that could be indicators of larger changes filtering into 3d
and therefore detected by technologies extending from the human 3d field of existence.
One of these changes is the deletion of portions of extant creation of The All. Human
science technology can barely measure the parameters of what humans regard as the
universe. Within The All there are many structures and patterns, some which connect
the entirety of The All, like super-cosmic nerve fibers and blood vessels that convey
information and energy.
ASK
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The Polarized Milky Way
May 15, 2014 by Stephan Smith
https://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2014/05/15/the-polarized-milky-way/
Polarized light from the Milky Way. Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration
Electromagnetic fields guide light in specific ways.

The image above is from the Planck satellite, now defunct, that was launched by the
European Space Agency (ESA) in May 2005, along with the Herschel Space
Observatory, which also recently ended its mission.
According to ESA, Plancks mission was broken into several objectives: to determine the
large-scale properties of the Universe with high precision; to test theories of inflation; to
search for primordial gravitational waves; to search for defects in space; to study the
origin of the structures we see in the Universe; and to study our and other galaxies in the
microwave.
Planck used its detectors to investigate polarized light coming from various locations in
the Milky Way. According to a recent press release, small dust grains, said to be rotating
at several million times per second, are constrained by magnetic fields that cause them
to form field-aligned channels through which light is emitted. That causes the light to be
polarized. However, could the information be relevant to another explanation that
involves electrical activity?
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Data the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope revealed twin lobes of a gamma rays in an
hourglass shape extending out beyond the Milky Ways central bulge. Each structure
measures approximately 65,000 light-years in diameter. The funnel-like formations are
the unmistakable signature of Birkeland currents squeezing plasma and charged dust
into z-pinch compression zones. The intense magnetic fields associated with Birkeland
current filaments cause electrons to accelerate with velocities close to light speed. Those
excited electrons emit synchrotron radiation, the principle source for gamma rays in
space.
Electric Universe advocates have long known that radio lobes far above the poles of
active galaxies are the signature of Birkeland currents that often resolve into braided
filaments, while the spiral arms of some galaxies exhibit twisted strands of material
extending from their cores.
All those filaments are Birkeland currents, but they represent only the visible portion of
an entire circuit. As more data accumulates from an ever-increasing array of telescopes,
such as Planck, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the Milky Way shares
characteristics with the rest of its galactic family. A halo of stars, filamentary structures,
lobes of radiation, a microwave haze, and other observed phenomena point to its
electrical nature.
Rotating dust grains are not the most likely reason that Planck found polarized light.
ESA refers to magnetic fields in its announcement, but for magnetic fields to exist,
electric fields must also be present. It is an electromagnetic force, not merely a magnetic
force that guides light waves. Provided that the Planck detectors actually saw what was
reported, polarization in the Milky Way could be caused by the Zeeman effect.
The Zeeman effect is named for Pieter Zeeman, a Dutch physicist. It splits spectral lines
in the presence of a magnetic field, and consists of triple or double splitting of the
spectra. Based on the direction of detection, polarization of the split lines is different:
circular polarization occurs in the longitudinal rotation for the two high and low bands
of a triplet, while in the middle, or transverse band, light is polarized parallel to the
magnetic field, and the other two bands are perpendicular.
Since the Milky Way is threaded with filaments of electromagnetic Birkeland currents, it
could be that Planck is seeing polarization from the fields associated with them.
Stephen Smith
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A Blue Bridge of Stars between Cluster Galaxies

[ When I saw this image with a luminous blue egg, it was quite suggestive of how I
see some large cosmic structures and it is as some of the more micro-cosmic
structures look from afar as well as highly suggestive of the various scales of
membranes I have commented on which enclosed various portions of this reality from
Earth to galaxies, and eventually the entire fallen sector. -ASK ]
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Tremblay (ESO) et al.;

Acknowledgment: Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) - ESA/Hubble Collaboration
Explanation:
Why is there a blue bridge of stars across the center of this galaxy cluster? First and
foremost the cluster, designated SDSS J1531+3414, contains many large yellow elliptical
galaxies. The cluster's center, as pictured above by the Hubble Space Telescope, is
surrounded by many unusual, thin, and curving blue filaments that are actually galaxies
far in the distance whose images have become magnified and elongated by the
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gravitational lens effect of the massive cluster. More unusual, however, is a squiggly blue
filament near the two large elliptical galaxies at the cluster center. Close inspection of
the filament indicates that it is most likely a bridge created by tidal effects between the
two merging central elliptical galaxies rather than a background galaxy with an image
distorted by gravitational lensing. The knots in the bridge are condensation regions that
glow blue from the light of massive young stars. The central cluster region will likely
undergo continued study as its uniqueness makes it an interesting laboratory of star
formation.
-//-
Fermi bubbles defy explanation
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-extensive-analysis-fermi-defy-explanation.html
Aug 01, 2014
Also see this 9-minute talk with visuals from the EU/Thunderbolts project:
Published on Sep 16, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzhHysoeLYY
For more than four years, NASA scientists have puzzled over mysterious structures in
the Milky Way galaxy called Fermi Bubbles. The so-called bubbles reach for ten of
thousands of light years above and below the galaxy. Both the structures enormous size
and their emissions are presenting huge theoretical puzzles for astrophysicists. Dr. Tom
Wilson discusses what plasma cosmology and the Electric Universe tell us about these
phenomena.
This artist's representation shows the Fermi bubbles towering

above and below the galaxy. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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(Phys.org) Scientists from Stanford and the Department of Energy's SLAC National
Accelerator Laboratory have analyzed more than four years of data from NASA's Fermi
Gamma-ray Space Telescope, along with data from other experiments, to create the
most detailed portrait yet of two towering bubbles that stretch tens of thousands of
light-years above and below our galaxy.
The bubbles, which shine most brightly in energetic gamma rays, were discovered
almost four years ago by a team of Harvard astrophysicists led by Douglas Finkbeiner
who combed through data from Fermi's main instrument, the Large Area Telescope.
The new portrait, described in a paper that has been accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journal, reveals several puzzling features, said Dmitry Malyshev, a
postdoctoral researcher at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
who co-led on the analysis.
For example, the outlines of the bubbles are quite sharp, and the bubbles themselves
glow in nearly uniform gamma rays over their colossal surfaces, like two 30,000-lightyear-tall incandescent bulbs screwed into the center of the galaxy.
Their size is another puzzle. The farthest reaches of the Fermi bubbles boast some of the
highest energy gamma rays, but there's no discernable cause for them that far from the
galaxy.
Finally, although the parts of the bubbles closest to the galactic plane shine in
microwaves as well as gamma rays, about two-thirds of the way out the microwaves fade
and only gamma rays are detectable. Not only is this different from other galactic
bubbles, but it makes the researchers' work that much more challenging, said
Malyshev's co-lead, KIPAC postdoctoral researcher Anna Franckowiak.
"Since the Fermi bubbles have no known counterparts in other wavelengths in areas
high above the galactic plane, all we have to go on for clues are the gamma rays
themselves," she said.
What Blew The Bubbles?
Soon after the initial discovery theorists jumped in, offering several explanations for the
bubbles' origins. For example, they could have been created by huge jets of accelerated
matter blasting out from the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Or they
could have been formed by a population of giant stars, born from the plentiful gas
surrounding the black hole, all exploding as supernovae at roughly the same time.
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"There are several models that explain them, but none of the models is perfect,"
Malyshev said. "The bubbles are rather mysterious."
Creating the portrait wasn't easy.
"It's very tricky to model," said Franckowiak. "We had to remove all the foreground
gamma-ray emissions from the data before we could clearly see the bubbles."
From the vantage point of most Earth-bound telescopes, all but the highest-energy
gamma rays are completely screened out by our atmosphere. It wasn't until the era of
orbiting gamma-ray observatories like Fermi that scientists discovered how common
extra-terrestrial gamma rays really are. Pulsars, supermassive black holes in other
galaxies and supernovae are all gamma rays point sources, like distant stars are point
sources of visible light, and all those gamma rays had to be scrubbed from the Fermi
data. Hardest to remove were the galactic diffuse emissions, a gamma ray fog that fills
the galaxy from cosmic rays interacting with interstellar particles.
"Subtracting all those contributions didn't subtract the bubbles," Franckowiak said.
"The bubbles do exist and their properties are robust." In other words, the bubbles don't
disappear when other gamma-ray sources are pulled out of the Fermi data in fact, they
stand out quite clearly.
Franckowiak says more data is necessary before they can narrow down the origin of the
bubbles any further.
"What would be very interesting would be to get a better view of them closer to the
galactic center," she said, "but the galactic gamma ray emissions are so bright we'd need
to get a lot better at being able to subtract them."
Fermi is continuing to gather the data Franckowiak wants, but for now, both researchers
said, there are a lot of open questions.
Journal reference: Astrophysical Journal
Provided by Stanford University
-//-
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The Ophiuchus Superbubble: A Gigantic Eruption from the
Inner Disk of the Milky Way
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0610894
Yurii Pidopryhora (1 and 2), Felix J. Lockman (1), Joseph C. Shields (2) ((1) National
Radio Astronomy Observatory, (2) Ohio University) (Submitted on 30 Oct 2006)
http://images.nrao.edu/574
While studying extraplanar neutral hydrogen in the disk-halo transition of the inner
Galaxy we have discovered what appears to be a huge superbubble centered around l ~
30 deg, whose top extends to latitudes > 25 deg at a distance of about 7 kpc. It is
detected in both HI and Halpha. Using the Green Bank Telescope of the NRAO, we have
measured more than 220,000 HI spectra at 9' angular resolution in and around this
structure. The total HI mass in the system is ~ 10^6 Msol and it has an equal mass in
H+. The Plume of HI capping its top is 1.2 x 0.6 kpc in l and b and contains 3 x 10^4
Msol of HI. Despite its location, (the main section is 3.4 kpc above the Galactic plane)
the kinematics of the Plume appears to be dominated by Galactic rotation, but with a lag
of 27 km/s from corotation. At the base of this structure there are ``whiskers'' of HI
several hundreds of pc wide, reaching more than 1 kpc into the halo; they have a vertical
density structure suggesting that they are the bubble walls and have been created by
sideways rather than upwards motion. They resemble the vertical dust lanes seen in
NGC891. From a Kompaneets model of an expanding bubble, we estimate that the age
of this system is ~ 30 Myr and its total energy content ~ 10^53 ergs. It may just now be
at the stage where its expansion has ceased and the shell is beginning to undergo
significant instabilities. This system offers an unprecedented opportunity to study a
number of important phenomena at close range, including superbubble evolution,
turbulence in an HI shell, and the magnitude of the ionizing flux above the Galactic disk.
NRAO image description:
A nearby superbubble recently discovered with the 100 m Green Bank Telescope (GBT)
is shown as if we were able to see it with the naked eye in the night sky. A picture of the
night sky taken from the NRAO Green Bank observatory site is overlaid by an optical
image of the Milky Way and a false color image of the superbubble. All angular sizes and
relative positions of the objects are real, bright stars were used to match the images
together. In the bubble, blue color is neutral hydrogen detected by its 21 cm radio
emission, red -- ionized hydrogen detected by its optical emission, white -- where there
are matching amounts of both neutral and ionized hydrogen. On the left side of the
horizon we see a silhouette of the 140-foot telescope and the brightly lit GBT. The part of
the Milky Way shown in the image is about 1/6 of its total circumference. The area of it
close to the GBT is the Galactic center. The wide dark lane sweeping across the lower
side of the bubble is known as the Great Rift -- a stretch of cosmic dust blocking all the
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light behind it including some
of the superbubble's ionized
hydrogen emission -- that is
why we see a blue patch
there.
Above the right side of the
horizon we see an arc of 5
stars -- part of Corona
Australis constellation, above
it -- the "head" and "pincers"
of Scorpius, and still higher
the base of Ophiuchus, the
constellation in which most
of the superbubble is located.
If one wants to locate the
superbubble's position in the
sky, she/he should look for
the Bull of Poniatowski
asterism marking the very
middle of the bubble.
However even if our eyes
were able to see 21 cm radio
emission and were sensitive
enough for the ionized
hydrogen line, we still would
not see this superbubble
because it is hidden behind
much brighter emission of closer Galactic gas. Only specially designed experiments with
state-of-the-art astronomical equipment have allowed us to discover it. Such
superbubbles are known to be blown by powerful stellar winds and supernovae occuring
in star clusters in arms of both our and other spiral galaxies. It took approximately 30
million years and the energy of about 100 supernovae to create this one, which is more
than 3 kpc high and is located about 7 kpc from the Sun and 4 kpc from the Galactic
center. It is currently at the latest stages of its development, its expansion is stopped and
its walls are starting to decompose.
http://images.nrao.edu/574
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Supernova SN 2014J Explodes
http://www.nasa.gov/chandra/multimedia/supernova-sn2014j.html
New data from NASAs Chandra X-ray
Observatory has provided stringent
constraints on the environment around
one of the closest supernovas discovered
in decades. The Chandra
results provide insight into possible cause
of the explosion, as described in our press
release.
On January 21, 2014, astronomers
witnessed a supernova soon after it
exploded in the Messier 82, or M82,
galaxy. Telescopes across the globe and in
space turned their attention to study
this newly exploded star, including
Chandra. Astronomers
determined that this supernova, dubbed
SN 2014J, belongs to a class of explosions called Type Ia supernovas. These
supernovas are used as cosmic distance-markers and played a key role in the discovery
of the Universes accelerated expansion, which has been attributed to the effects of dark
energy. Scientists think that all Type Ia supernovas involve the detonation of a white
dwarf. One important question is whether the fuse on the explosion is lit when the white
dwarf pulls too much material from a companion star like the Sun, or when two white
dwarf stars merge.
This image contains Chandra data, where low, medium, and high-energy X-rays are red,
green, and blue respectively. The boxes in the bottom of the image show close-up views
of the region around the supernova in data taken prior to the explosion (left), as well as
data gathered on February 3, 2014, after the supernova went off (right). The lack of the
detection of X-rays detected by Chandra is an important clue for astronomers looking
for the exact mechanism of how this star exploded.
The non-detection of X-rays reveals that the region around the site of the supernova
explosion is relatively devoid of material. This finding is a critical clue to the origin of
the explosion. Astronomers expect that if a white dwarf exploded because it had been
steadily collecting matter from a companion star prior to exploding, the mass transfer
process would not be 100% efficient, and the white dwarf would be immersed in a cloud
of gas.
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If a significant amount of material were surrounding the doomed star, the blast wave
generated by the supernova would have struck it by the time of the
Chandra observation, producing a bright X-ray source. Since they do not detect any Xrays, the researchers determined that the region around SN 2014J is exceptionally clean.
A viable candidate for the cause of SN 2014J must explain the relatively gasfree environment around the star prior to the explosion. One possibility is the merger of
two white dwarf stars, in which case there might have been little mass transfer
and pollution of the environment before the explosion. Another is that several smaller
eruptions on the surface of the white dwarf cleared the region prior to the
supernova. Further observations a few hundred days after the explosion could shed
light on the amount of gas in a larger volume, and help decide between these and
other scenarios.
A paper describing these results was published in the July 20 issue of The Astrophysical
Journal and is available online. The first author is Raffaella Margutti from the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, MA, and the co-authors are
Jerod Parrent (CfA), Atish Kamble (CfA), Alicia Soderberg (CfA), Ryan Foley (University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Dan Milisavljevic (CfA), Maria Drout (CfA), and
Robert Kirshner (CfA).
Image Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/R.Margutti et al
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Glimpses of a Huge Galaxy Formation

August 27, 2014
Quote: Only the most powerful telescopes have the ability to look back far enough
to gather this important insight. Its a formation process that cant happen
anymore, The early universe could make these galaxies, but the modern universe
cant. [! ASK ]
Link:
http://www.keckobservatory.org/recent/entry/keck_observatory_gives_astronomer
s_first_glimpse_of_monster_galaxy_formatio
Mauna Kea, Hawaii: After years of searching, Yale University astronomers have
discovered a window into the early, violent formation of the nuclei of the Universes
monster galaxies. After spotting a potential candidate with the 2.4-meter Hubble Space
Telescope, the team of astronomers pointed the 10-meter Keck II telescope, operated by
the W. M. Keck Observatory, to witness the turbulent, star-bursting galactic core
forming millions of stars at a ferocious rate. The data collected during their five day run
in Hawaii offers important clues about the galaxys development as it was 11 billion
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years ago just 3 billion years after the Big Bang. The research is being published today
in the journal Nature.
Galaxy formation theories have long suggested that monster elliptical galaxies form
from the inside out, creating their dramatically star-studded central cores during early
cosmic epochs. But scientists had never been able to observe this core construction
until now.
Only the most powerful telescopes have the ability to look back far enough to gather this
important insight. Its a formation process that cant happen anymore, said Erica
Nelson, Yale graduate student and lead author of the paper. The early universe could
make these galaxies, but the modern universe cant. It was this hotter, more turbulent
place these were boiling cauldrons forging stars.
After finding the candidate, officially named GOODS-N-774, with an infrared camera on
the Hubble Space Telescope, team members flew to Hawaii on the night of January 11,
2014 and actually saw the formation process underway with the Near Infrared
Spectrograph (NIRSPEC) instrument installed on Keck Observatory's 10-meter Keck II
telescope.
Informally, they began calling the GOODS-N-774 galaxy, Sparky. Using archival, farinfrared images from NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope and the ESA/NASA Herschel
Space Observatory, the team found Sparky is producing 300 stars per year. By
comparison, the Milky Way produces about 10 stars per year. While the tiny galaxy is
only 6 percent the size of the Milky Way, it contains about twice as many stars.
Sparkys rapid gas movement predicted by the theorists was the big tip-off that they
found what they were looking for.
Observations from Keck Observatory showed the galaxy boasts the most rapidly orbiting
gas clouds ever measured, the most definitive evidence that they were witnessing the
core of a monster galaxy in formation. It was something the team had hoped to see for
years, and when the telltale, broad-emission lines showed up on the Keck Observatory
monitors, the mood in the room lit up.
It's pretty rare to be at the telescope and know that you are getting something pretty
striking, van Dokkum said. We could quickly see the signature we were looking for and
could just tell it was going to be something spectacular.
Keck Observatory's NIRSPEC provided crucial information, said Nelson. The really
important piece of evidence was the measurement of velocity dispersion. Without that
data from Keck Observatory, it was hard to interpret what was going on.
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The gas required to fuel star formation, along with swirling traces of metals, enshrouds
the galaxy in thick dust, hiding it in visible light just like the Sun appears red and faint
behind the smoke of a forest fire. The astronomers think that this barely visible galaxy
may be representative of a much larger population of similar objects that are even more
obscured by dust.
It was only by using infrared analysis and the most powerful telescopes in existence that
the Yale team could confirm the exact nature of Sparky. The galaxy formed 11 billion
years ago, and its star-forming gas has one of the highest ionized gas velocity
dispersions ever measured.
I think our discovery settles the question of whether this mode of building galaxies
actually happened or not, van Dokkum said. The question now is, How often did this
occur? We suspect there are other galaxies like this that are even fainter in nearinfrared wavelengths.
Sparky may have a lot of company. We suspect there are 100 times as many and were
just missing them, Nelson said.
The W. M. Keck Observatory operates the largest, most scientifically productive
telescopes on Earth. The two, 10-meter optical/infrared telescopes on the summit of
Mauna Kea on the Island of Hawaii feature a suite of advanced instruments including
imagers, multi-object spectrographs, high-resolution spectrographs, integral-field
spectroscopy and world-leading laser guide star adaptive optics systems.NIRSPEC
(Near-Infrared Spectrograph) is a unique, cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph that
captures spectra of objects over a large range of infrared wavelengths at high spectral
resolution. Built at the UCLA Infrared Laboratory by a team led by Prof. Ian McLean,
the instrument is used for radial velocity studies of cool stars, abundance measurements
of stars and their environs, planetary science, and many other scientific programs. A
second mode provides low spectral resolution but high sensitivity and is popular for
studies of distant galaxies and very cool low-mass stars. NIRSPEC can also be used with
Keck II's adaptive optics (AO) system to combine the powers of the high spatial
resolution of AO with the high spectral resolution of NIRSPEC.Keck Observatory is a
private 501(c) 3 non-profit organization and a scientific partnership of the California
Institute of Technology, the University of California and NASA.
-//-
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Dead Galaxies Defy Galactic Formation Theories

September 2005 by Maggie McKee
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7935#.VAuuIHl0xaR
The largest galaxies in 93 galactic clusters near the Milky Way stopped forming stars 13
billion years ago, a new study reveals. The stagnant behemoths appear to challenge the
leading theory that such large objects grew up gradually over time from the merger of
smaller objects. Black holes lurking at their centres may be responsible for the arrested
development.
Astronomers using a 3.5-metre telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona,
US, and a 4-metre telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in La Serena,
Chile, made the discovery after studying the spectra of about 4100 "red" galaxies within
about a billion light years of the Milky Way. Red galaxies show few new stars, which
tend to make galaxies appear blue.
The survey found that the largest galaxies had already stopped forming stars about 13
billion years ago, when the Universe was only about 700 million years old. Smaller
galaxies, on the other hand, gave birth to their last stars more recently - between two
billion and eight billion years ago.
Hierarchical clustering
"The largest galaxies in the Universe formed very early on and they have been coasting
along without forming many new generations of stars," says team member Nicholas
Suntzeff, based in La Serena, and associate director for science at the US National
Optical Astronomy Observatory, Arizona. This goes against models of "hierarchical
clustering".
"From hierarchical modelling, we would have expected to see more star formation later
on and we didn't," says Suntzeff.
John Huchra, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA)
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, says the new research does pose questions for current
theories. But he says "it doesn't mean the hierarchical picture is completely wrong, just
that the merging process that formed the largest galaxies must have essentially finished
10 billion years ago".
And there may be a relatively straightforward explanation. Large galaxies probably have
colossal black holes at their cores. Gas falling into these black holes soon after the
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galaxies were born may have spawned powerful outpourings of energy, creating what
astronomers call "active" galaxies. This would have heated gas left over in the galaxies to
tens of millions of degrees and allowed it to escape into space before it could condense
into new stars
Curious behaviour
"I do believe that supermassive black holes are to blame for the fact that these galaxies
all appear to be dead," says Lars Hernquist, an astronomer at the CfA.
The process may have been particularly speedy in the galaxies surveyed in this study.
They all lie in 93 galactic clusters - crowded swarms of hundreds of galaxies.
"Everything happens faster where there is more mass," Suntzeff told New Scientist.
The cluster galaxies probably formed stars, and lost their gas, more quickly than their
counterparts in less dense regions. The Milky Way is still forming stars today: it only has
a few dozen galactic neighbours in its so-called Local Group.
But Suntzeff says the discovery that even the universe's smaller galaxies are now dying
also raises other, more philosophical questions. "Thinking not as an astronomer, I find
this behaviour curious - we are living in a time in the universe when galaxies are dying
out," he says. "Is it just coincidence? What is our future?"
The research, led by Jenica Nelan of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, US,
will appear in the 10 September issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
-//-
Companion Star to a Supernova?

Using NASAs Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered a companion star
to a rare type of supernova. The discovery confirms a long-held theory that the
supernova, dubbed SN 1993J, occurred inside what is called a binary system, where two
interacting stars caused a cosmic explosion.
"This is like a crime scene, and we finally identified the robber," said Alex Filippenko,
professor of astronomy at University of California (UC) at Berkeley. "The companion
star stole a bunch of hydrogen before the primary star exploded."
SN 1993J is an example of a Type IIb supernova, unusual stellar explosions that
contains much less hydrogen than found in a typical supernova. Astronomers believe
the companion star took most of the hydrogen surrounding the exploding main star and
continued to burn as a super-hot helium star.
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A binary system is likely required to lose the majority of the primary stars hydrogen
envelope prior to the explosion. The problem is that, to date, direct observations of the
predicted binary companion star have been difficult to obtain since it is so faint relative
to the supernova itself, said lead researcher Ori Fox of UC Berkeley.
SN 1993J resides in the Messier 81 galaxy, about 11 million light-years away in the
direction of Ursa Major, the Great Bear constellation. Since its discovery 21 years ago,
scientists have been looking for the companion star. Observations at the W. M. Keck
Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, suggested that the missing companion star radiated
large amounts of
ultraviolet (UV) light,
but the area of the
supernova was so
crowded that
scientists could not be
sure they were
measuring the right
star.
The team combined
optical light data and
Hubbles UV light
images to construct a
spectrum that
matched the
predicted glow of a
companion star, also
known as the
continuum emission.
Scientists were only
recently able to
directly detect this
light.
This is an artists impression of supernova 1993J, which exploded in the

galaxy M81. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have identified
the blue helium-burning companion star, seen at the center of the expanding
nebula of debris from the supernova.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Bacon (STScI)
We were able to get that UV spectrum with Hubble. This conclusively shows that you
have an excess of continuum emission in the UV, even after the light from other stars
has been subtracted, said Azalee Bostroem of the Space Telescope Science Institute
(STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland.
Astronomers estimate a supernova occurs once every second somewhere in the universe,
yet they dont fully understand how stars explode. Further research will help
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astronomers better understand the properties of this companion star and the different
types of supernovae.
The results of this study were published in the July 20 issue of the Astrophysical
Journal.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA
and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland, manages the telescope, while STScI conducts science operations. STScI is
operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in
Washington.
For images and more information about Hubble, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/hubble
-//-
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Simulations reveal an unusual death for ancient stars
Sep 29, 2014
http://phys.org/news/2014-09-simulations-reveal-unusual-death-ancient.html
This image is a slice through

the interior of a
supermassive star of 55,500
solar masses along the axis
of symmetry. It shows the
inner helium core in which
nuclear burning is
converting helium to oxygen,
powering various fluid
instabilities (swirling lines).
This "snapshot" from a
CASTRO simulation shows
one moment a day after the
onset of the explosion, when
the radius of the outer circle
would be slightly larger than
that of the orbit of the Earth
around the sun.
Visualizations were done in
VisIT. Credit: Ken Chen,
University of California at
Santa Cruz
(Phys.org) Certain primordial starsthose 55,000 and 56,000 times the mass of our
Sun, or solar massesmay have died unusually. In death, these objectsamong the
Universe's first-generation of starswould have exploded as supernovae and burned
completely, leaving no remnant black hole behind.
Astrophysicists at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and the University of
Minnesota came to this conclusion after running a number of supercomputer
simulations at the Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Research Scientific
Computing Center (NERSC) and Minnesota Supercomputing Institute at the University
of Minnesota. They relied extensively on CASTRO, a compressible astrophysics code
developed at DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's (Berkeley Lab's)
Computational Research Division (CRD). Their findings were recently published in
Astrophysical Journal (ApJ).
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First-generation stars are especially interesting because they produced the first heavy
elements, or chemical elements other than hydrogen and helium. In death, they sent
their chemical creations into outer space, paving the way for subsequent generations of
stars, solar systems and galaxies. With a greater understanding of how these first stars
died, scientists hope to glean some insights about how the Universe, as we know it
today, came to be.
"We found that there is a narrow window where supermassive stars could explode
completely instead of becoming a supermassive black holeno one has ever found this
mechanism before," says Ke-Jung Chen, a postdoctoral researcher at UCSC and lead
author of the ApJ paper. "Without NERSC resources, it would have taken us a lot longer
to reach this result. From a user perspective, the facility is run very efficiently and it is
an extremely convenient place to do science."
The Simulations: What's Going On?
To model the life of a primordial supermassive star, Chen and his colleagues used a onedimensional stellar evolution code called KEPLER. This code takes into account key
processes like nuclear burning and stellar convection. And relevant for massive stars,
photo-disintegration of elements, electron-positron pair production and special
relativistic effects. The team also included general relativistic effects, which are
important for stars above 1,000 solar masses.
They found that primordial stars between 55,000 to 56,000 solar masses live about 1.69
million years before becoming unstable due to general relativistic effects and then start
to collapse. As the star collapses, it begins to rapidly synthesize heavy elements like
oxygen, neon, magnesium and silicon starting with helium in its core. This process
releases more energy than the binding energy of the star, halting the collapse and
causing a massive explosion: a supernova.
To model the death mechanisms of these stars, Chen and his colleagues used CASTRO
a multidimensional compressible astrophysics code developed at Berkeley Lab by
scientists Ann Almgren and John Bell. These simulations show that once collapse is
reversed, Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities mix heavy elements produced in the star's final
moments throughout the star itself. The researchers say that this mixing should create a
distinct observational signature that could be detected by upcoming near-infrared
experiments such as the European Space Agency's Euclid and NASA's Wide-Field
Infrared Survey Telescope.
Depending on the intensity of the supernovae, some supermassive stars could, when
they explode, enrich their entire host galaxy and even some nearby galaxies with
elements ranging from carbon to silicon. In some cases, supernova may even trigger a
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burst of star formation in its host galaxy, which would make it visually distinct from
other young galaxies.
"My work involves studying the supernovae of very massive stars with new physical
processes beyond hydrodynamics, so I've collaborated with Ann Almgren to adapt
CASTRO for many different projects over the years," says Chen. "Before I run my
simulations, I typically think about the physics I need to solve a particular problem. I
then work with Ann to develop some code and incorporate it into CASTRO. It is a very
efficient system."
To visualize his data, Chen used an open source tool called VisIt, which was architected
by Hank Childs, formerly a staff scientist at Berkeley Lab. "Most of the time I did my
own visualizations, but when there were things that I needed to modify or customize I
would shoot Hank an email and that was very helpful."
Chen completed much of this work while he was a graduate student at the University of
Minnesota. He completed his Ph.D. in physics in 2013.
Additional reference:
http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/790/2/162
Abstract: The formation of supermassive Population III stars with masses 10,000 M
in primeval galaxies in strong ultraviolet backgrounds at z ~ 15 may be the most viable
pathway to the formation of supermassive black holes by z ~ 7. Most of these stars are
expected to live for short times and then directly collapse to black holes, with little or no
mass loss over their lives. However, we have now discovered that non-rotating
primordial stars with masses close to 55,000 M can instead die as highly energetic
thermonuclear supernovae powered by explosive helium burning, releasing up to
1055 erg, or about 10,000 times the energy of a Type Ia supernova. The explosion is
triggered by the general relativistic contribution of thermal photons to gravity in the
core of the star, which causes the core to contract and explosively burn. The energy
release completely unbinds the star, leaving no compact remnant, and about half of the
mass of the star is ejected into the early cosmos in the form of heavy elements. The
explosion would be visible in the near infrared at z 20 to Euclid and the Wide-Field
Infrared Survey Telescope, perhaps signaling the birth of supermassive black hole seeds
and the first quasars.
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Detection of Galactic Center Source G2

May-October 2014
http://etheric.com/new-keck-telescope-observations-g2-cloud/
Note: I include this set of articles to help illustrate one of the processes with the local
galactic space. Superwaves have been postulated to be cosmic-scale agents of
enormous change. That these are regarded as super waves also has my attention as I
continue to find indicators from 3d science of changes in the fabric of physical reality.
Disclaimer: As always, my link here to LaViolettes website is not to be construed as
my agreement or support for his spiritual perspectives, nor for any websites that he
may refer or link to. -ASK
More science news from Hawaii presented through Paul LaViolette
a group of U.S. astronomers posted a preprint of the results of Keck Observatory
imaging of the G2 cloud which they did last March: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1410.1884.pdf
This paper by Witzel, et al. describes several new things that were learned from these
observations.
1) The G2 cloud definitely contains a star.
2) This star has a luminosity of 20 solar luminosities which implies that it has a
mass of about twice the Suns mass.
3) They rule out the possibility that the star is a binary star system.
4) They find that the photosphere of the star has a diameter of 2 AU (astronomical
units, the size of the Earths orbit. This is 100 times larger than the photosphere
normally seen for a star of this luminosity, which they find puzzling. But over a year
ago, in May 2013, I had predicted that stars at perhaps would have such an inflated
size; see below.
5) They more accurately define the pericenter distance for the G2 cloud,
determining its distance of closest approach to be 215 30 AU. This is further out
than the 144 AU previously estimated by Gillessen, et al. Witzel, et al. also find that
at this distance of closest approach a 2 solar mass star within the G2 cloud
should have a tidal radius of 1.3 AU. The 1 AU radius estimated for the G2 stars
photosphere is smaller than this tidal radius, which is consistent with the lack of
evidence of tidal stripping. Although, the possibility still remains that tidal
stripping will be observed at the time the star reaches its periapse
distance. Whether it has already passed its orbital pericenter, though, is not known.
6) They conclude that the star will continue to follow its orbital path around the
Galactic core and continue on out.
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In a May 2013 posting, G2 Cloud Predicted to Approach Twice as Close to GC, it was
predicted that a star nearing its closest approach to the Galactic core would have a
substantially inflated photosphere due to a number of reasons: a) energy added to the
star due to tidal interactions with the Galactic core, b) energy added to the star due to
cosmic ray heating of its atmosphere by the Galactic cores cosmic ray flux, and c)
internal genic energy production which itself depends on the value of the ambient
gravity potential field, this field becoming increasingly negative as the star approaches
its pericenter. At that time I estimated that a one solar mass star approaching within
130 AU of the Galactic core would have its luminosity boosted 37 fold to 37 solar
luminosities.
With the current determination of Witzel, et al. that the star will instead come
within 215 AU when at its closest approach to the core, this luminosity estimate must be
revised downward. Accordingly, a one solar mass star at a distance of 215 AU from the
Galactic core will have a genic energy output reduced to only 60% of what was
previously estimated and a cosmic ray heating input reduced to only 36% of what had
been previously estimated. As a result a one solar mass star is estimated to have a total
luminosity of 18.5 solar luminosities, which is close to what Witzel, et al. report for the
G2 cloud star. Here we neglect the contribution to luminosity due to tidal heating
effects which would be small by comparison.
Previously I had estimated that due to its over luminosity the photosphere of a one solar
mass star at pericenter would expand 4 fold to 4 solar radii. I was apparently being too
conservative. Because here we see that even with a more modest luminosity increase to
18.5 solar luminosities (half of the earlier estimate) that the stars photospheric radius
expands to 1 AU, 54 fold larger, about like that of a star going through its red giant
phase. Consequently, my earlier posting quite accurately estimated the luminosity
observed for the G2 cloud star (once the pericenter distance is corrected for), but it
underestimated its photospheric diameter. Indeed, my earlier suggestion that the star
would attain a diameter of 4 solar radii, was actually just a rough guess.
So, in view of the above discussion, the G2 cloud appears to contain a star of about one
solar mass which is about 20 fold over luminous due to its passage close to the Galactic
core, this excess luminosity causing its photosphere to expand approximately 200 fold
to a radius of 1 AU. It is unlikely that a binary star is present, but the stars association
with a jovian sized planet cannot be ruled out.
One criticism I have of the report by Witzel, et al. is that they still use the term black
hole to refer to the galactic core. The black hole theory is dead now; see recent posting.
Lets put flowers on its grave. When referring to this supermassive celestial
object, astronomers should now use the term I have been proposing for the past 30
years: Mother star, or supermassive galactic core.
- Paul LaViolette
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Star With Accretion Disc Embedded Inside A Knot Of Dust
Also, see earlier article on this with a graphical computer animation of accretion disc
embedded inside a knot of dust.
Link: http://etheric.com/g2-cloud-predicted-to-approach-twice-as-close-to-gc/
-//-
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Detection Of Galactic Center Source G2

At 3.8 Microns During Periapse Passage
G. Witzel1, A. M. Ghez1, M. R. Morris1, B. N. Sitarski1, A. Boehle1, S. Naoz1, R.

Campbell, E. E. Becklin, G. Canalizo, S. Chappell1, T. Do4, J. R. Lu, K. Matthews, L.
Meyer, A. Stockton, P. Wizinowich, S.Yelda Accepted by ApJ Letters, 2014 October 14
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1410.1884.pdf
ABSTRACT
We report new observations of the Galactic Center source G2 from the W. M. Keck
Observatory.
G2 is a dusty red object associated with gas that shows tidal interactions as it nears
closest approach with the Galaxys central black hole. Our observations, conducted as
G2 passed through periapse, were designed to test the proposal that G2 is a 3 earth mass
gas cloud. Such a cloud should be tidally disrupted during periapse passage. The data
were obtained using the Keck II laser guide star adaptive optics system (LGSAO) and the
facility near-infrared camera (NIRC2) through the K [2.1 m] and L [3.8 m]
broadband filters. Several results emerge from these observations: 1) G2 has survived
its closest approach to the black hole as a compact, unresolved source at L; 2) G2s L
brightness measurements are consistent with those over the last decade; 3) G2s motion
continues to be consistent with a Keplerian model. These results rule out G2 as a pure
gas cloud and imply that G2 has a central star. This star has a luminosity of _30 L and
is surrounded by a large (_2.6 AU) optically thick dust shell. The differences between
the L and Br- observations can be understood with a model in which L and Bremission arises primarily from internal and external heating, respectively. We
suggest that G2 is a binary star merger product and will ultimately appear similar to the
B-stars that are tightly clustered around the black hole (the so-called S-star cluster).
Subject headings: Galaxy: center Techniques: photometric Techniques: high
angular resolution
Posted May 16, 2014
http://etheric.com/computer-simulation-binary-star-g2-cloud-orbit/
P. LaViolette
In a January 23rd Sphinx Stargate posting I had mentioned that there is an urgent need
to do a computer simulation to investigate the trajectory of the G2 cloud stars in the case
in which G2 might contain an embedded binary star system. This was needed to see
what the orbit would be of the separated companion; i.e., whether or not a stripped off
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companion would strike the Galactic core. Well, early last month a group of Czech and
German astronomers, Zajacek, Karas, and Eckart, posted a paper which is to appear in
the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics which investigated this situation. It discussed
computer simulation results of the G2 cloud for three scenarios, the case where the
cloud: a) contained no star, b) contained a solitary star, and c) contained a binary
star. This third simulation, which is of particular interest to us, is discussed at the very
end of their paper. I had written to all three on January 12th and 13th noting that if the
G2 cloud contained an embedded binary star, there would be an increased threat for a
core outburst, as in the case where a companion star or planet might be tidally stripped
away and ultimately consumed by the core. I had also pointed out to them that, as of
then, no simulation study had been performed of this case. Interestingly, they were
among the majority that did not respond to my email. So, I will not know if they already
were investigating the binary star scenario, or whether they had gotten the idea from my
email and added this scenario in to their study.
Their paper investigates the case in which the primary star has a mass of either 3 or 4
solar masses and the companion star has a mass of 1.4 solar masses. In both cases the
binary system is assumed to follow the trajectory of the G2 cloud and to have a
pericenter velocity equal to that estimated for the cloud (6000 7000 kilometers per
second). Their simulation results showed that once the stars reached pericenter (~150
AU), the two began to separate from one another due to the action of the Galactic cores
tidal forces, and thereafter to continue away from the core following slightly different
elliptical orbits. Consequently, the simulation showed that the companion would not
follow a path that would take it spiraling in toward the core, as I had surmised in the
January 23rd posting. In fact, according to Michal Zajacek, for this outcome to occur, a
binary star would have to follow an orbit that would take it almost on a collision course
with the core event horizon, or bring it within the critical radius where stars begin to
break up due to core tidal forces (personal communication, May 10, 2014). This breakup distance would likely be closer than 80 AU to the core, since stars currently orbiting
the Galactic center are not seen to have pericenters closer than this distance.
So based on the simulation of Zajacek, et al., I believe that the risk of a G2 cloud binary
star triggering a core outburst is highly unlikely if in fact the companion star has a mass
of about one solar mass. However, as discussed in the previous posting, it is likely that
the primary star is a white dwarf and if a companion is present that it is either a brown
dwarf or planet. Zajacek, et al. did not model such cases of a low mass companion
where hydrodrag forces exerted by the cores wind become more important. That is,
for cases where the companion is of low mass, the effects of the galactic core ionized gas
wind and cosmic ray wind play a more important role and could possibly decelerate a
rapidly moving body sufficiently to cause it to spiral in toward the core.
Their simulation did show that gas and small dust particles making up the G2 cloud
could be captured by the core if the cores gas wind were sufficiently low. But they
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found that if the cores gas wind was higher than 2800 km/s, G2s gas and dust would be
blown outward away from the core and would never make an entry. Since observation
indicates that the cores wind could indeed be this high, this would explain why the Swift
telescope has seen no X-ray emission during the current pericenter passage period. As I
had reported earlier, dust from the G2 cloud would likely be blown away from the core
by the cores wind and would not generate any X-ray emission.
But larger sized debris would be too massive to be blown away, and it is possible that
comet sized stellar companion bodies of 1 to 100 kilometers in diameter, and maybe
even companions the size of the Earth, would be sufficiently small in mass as to have
their orbital momentum overpowered by the decelerating effects of the cores hydro drag
effects. Until simulations of these
smaller sized bodies are carried out,
we must consider the possibility
that such bodies could spiral
inward and impact the core. If such
material followed an inward spiral
trajectory, the earliest possible
arrival would be perhaps mid
August provided that it followed a
spiral similar to that depicted in the
sketch below. If the spiral involved
many orbitings of the core along a
descending spiral path, then there
would be a greater delay before
energetic activity would be
detected.
(G2 cloud trajectory showing hypothetical path for both the primary star and smaller
debris accreted due to hydrodynamic drag)
-//-
Swift X-ray Observations of the Galactic Center

as of October 5th, 2014
http://etheric.com/galactic-core-still-calm-new-swift-data/
Things still look quiescent at the Galactic center as of October 5th. Just a slight up
tick of activity today. Most likely the G2 cloud has passed its pericenter. But there have
been no signs of enhanced activity other than the brief spike that occurred around
September 10th. At this point we dont know exactly where the G2 cloud is in
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relation to its Galactic core pericenter. This X-ray chart will be updated on an
approximately weekly basis, unless there is an activity alert.
At this point the general consensus of astronomers is that the G2 cloud contains at least
one star, or possibly two. As stated before, the unanswered question is whether if the
G2 cloud contains a star with a planetary system and if the Galactic core is able to tug
comets or planets away from the parent star, whether hydrodrag effects of the cores ion
and cosmic ray wind will be sufficient to cause such bodies to spiral into the core and
trigger energetic activity. This possibility has been explored in the May 19th
posting. Currently, the chance that we will experience a superwave with a prompt
cosmic ray impact of the solar system
are substantially reduced.
Based on what we know now, I dont
expect we will see any splitting of the
G2 cloud because any planetary
companion bodies would be too small
to generate a separating cloud. The
learning curve we have gone through
in the past year as additional data has
come out on the G2 cloud has given
us quite a roller coaster ride, leading
us once again to an uncertain
immediate future. Keep in mind that
we should always be prepared for the
occurrence of any unexpected space
weather event.
-//-
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Earth Changes
September-October 2014
See Final Call Dreams and visions: Earths Core Shifting? (Posted at NES:)
http://newearthsummit.org/forum/index.php/topic,105.msg6414.html#msg6414
YouTube 4-minute presentation on geomagnetic pole reversals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn357zRnKxs&list=UUTiL1q9YbrVam5nP2xzFTWQ
I also encourage readers to consider these two videos from the recent Electric Universe
(EU) conference.
Michael Steinbacher: Catastrophist Geology | EU2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDbDMlEWIIY&index=24&list=PLwOAYhBuU3UfklHQ8
Rb1sOzkSAw50fCfc
Published on Aug 25, 2014
The modern awareness that plasma composes most of the universe requires a reevaluation of
theories dating from earlier times. Plasma is electrically active and employs forces that can be
many times stronger than those of mechanical erosion and tectonics. One possible model
envisions the globe enveloped in plasma discharges within the memory of humans. Material
from space and from electrical erosion of the surface was suddenly sorted and deposited
electrically to a great depth. Dust, sand, gravel, rocks, boulders, coal, and oil accumulated
wherever there was dry land. Red-hot dust blown by electrically generated tornado-like winds
built up strata in place: plastered against obstructions in a manner similar to welded material.
Flooding filled the valleys between the mountains with sediments. Where electrical activity was
strong enough, the loose material was lithified and even metamorphosed. In this presentation,
the Four Corners region in the US is presented as an example.
Dr. Michael Clarage: Earth's Electric Environment | EU2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2W5jaxKlgU&list=PLwOAYhBuU3UfklHQ8Rb1sOzkSAw
50fCfc&index=1
Published on Apr 2, 2014
Dr. Michael Clarage shares new observations of some of the complexities of the Earth's electrical
environment. The Sun and Earth are connected in ways very similar to how man-made electrical
equipment is connected. These similarities are examined in light of the idea of the entire solar
system behaving as a vast electrical transforming apparatus.
-//-
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Earths Core
September 2014
A recent dream-vision sequence showed me what appeared like an uneven split of the
earths core a little like cellular mitosis, or two halved of the brain, etc. They seemed to
jiggle around, like in a fluid plastic state. This is discussed further in Final Call.
A quick Google search turned up a little background:
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1996/08.15/PuttingaNewSpin.html
The metallic core of our planet is spinning faster than the rest of it, according to
evidence unearthed by Harvard geologists. And this hellishly hot core, almost as big as
the moon, apparently is growing in size.
"It's like a planet within a planet," says Adam Dziewonski, Baird Professor of Science.
It's the first major finding about Earth since the 1960s, when geologists confirmed that
continents and ocean bottoms drift across the planet's surface at a rate of less than an
inch to about four inches a year. "You very seldom make planetary-scale discoveries like
these," Dziewonski notes.
The inner core itself was only discovered in 1936. Dziewonski and Freeman Gilbert of
the University of California, San Diego, proved it was solid, rather than liquid, a scant 25
years ago.
In 1986, Andrea Morelli, John Woodhouse, and Dziewonski, working at Harvard,
found a strange unevenness, or anisotropy, in the inner core.
Shock waves from earthquakes travel through it in a north-south direction faster than in
other directions. Geologists attribute this to the crystalline structure that iron, its major
ingredient, assumes under the intense pressure near Earth's center, more than a million
pounds on every square inch.
Two years ago, Dziewonski and research associate Wei-jia Su showed that the axis of
symmetry of the iron tilts about 12 degrees from the north-south axis of its rotation.
Dziewonski and Su located the asymmetry axis when they analyzed records from 15,722
earthquakes that sent shock waves through the inner core.
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And from http://www.sciencedaily.com/ :
Magnetic Substorms May Sometimes Be Driven by Different Process Than Generally
Thought
Sep. 2, 2014 Magnetic substorms, the disruptions in geomagnetic activity that cause
brightening of aurora, may sometimes be driven by a different process than generally
thought, a new study ... full story
Scientists Probe Link Between Magnetic Polarity Reversal and Mantle Processes
July 31, 2012 Scientists have discovered that variations in the long-term reversal rate
of the Earth's magnetic field may be caused by changes in heat flow from the Earth's
core into the base of the
Magnetic Field, Mantle Convection and Tectonics
July 29, 2012 On a time scale of tens to hundreds of millions of years, the
geomagnetic field may be influenced by currents in the mantle. The frequent polarity
reversals of Earth's magnetic field can also be
Magnetic Pole Reversal Happens All the (Geologic) Time
Nov. 30, 2011 Scientists understand that Earth's magnetic field has flipped its polarity
many times over the millennia. The answer, from the geologic and fossil records we have
from hundreds of past magnetic
Plate Tectonics May Control Reversals in Earth's Magnetic Field
Oct. 21, 2011 Earth's magnetic field has reversed many times at an irregular rate
throughout its history. Long periods without reversal have been interspersed with eras
of frequent reversals. What is the
-//-
Hawaiian Volcanism
http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/book/export/html/111
This review presents some of the current knowledge of volcanoes in Hawai'i. It was
originally written for a NASA-sponsored workshop about Hawaiian volcanism. We hope
that with this review you can gain a better understanding of the processes and landforms
that are associated with Hawaiian volcanoes. Many of these processes and features can
also be found at other basaltic volcanoes on Earth. Additionally, Kilauea and Mauna Loa
and have also become the primary volcanoes used by planetary geologists as analogs for
volcanoes on Mars and Venus.
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The Hawaiian shield volcanoes are the largest volcanoes on earth (e.g. Peterson &
Moore 1987) rising some 9 km above the ocean floor (see image), with volumes of
42,500 and 24,800 cubic kilometers (not counting subsidence) for Mauna Loa and
Mauna Kea, respectively. Kilauea is a relatively small bump on the flank of Mauna Loa
with a volume of 19,400 cubic kilometers. This can be contrasted to an average of ~100
cubic kilometers for strato volcanoes such as Mount Saint Helens (Wood & Keinle
1990).
-//-
Magma in Earth's Mantle Forms Deeper Than Once Thought

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=126475
"When rocks come from deep in the mantle to shallower depths, they cross . . . the
solidus [boundary], where rocks begin to undergo partial melting and produce
magmas," Dasgupta said.
"Scientists knew the effect of a trace amount of carbon dioxide or water would lower this
boundary, but our new estimation made it 150-180 kilometers deeper from the known
depth of 70 kilometers," he said.
"What we are now saying is that with just a trace of carbon dioxide in the mantle,
melting can begin as deep as around 200 kilometers
When we incorporate the effect of trace water, the magma generation depth becomes at
least 250 kilometers."
-//-
Unusual behaviour in Earth's inner core explained

11 March 2013
by Harriet Jarlett
http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=1402
New research could help explain complex behaviour observed by scientist's in Earth's
inner core.
The study, by an international team of researchers from Leeds, London and California,
shows that rocks could be circulating in the inner core which may explain the unusual
behaviour of seismic waves passing through it.
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Observations of the inner core primarily come
from seismology - studying the way waves
generated during earthquakes move through
the Earth. Seismic waves show different
behaviour depending on which way and
which hemisphere they pass through. Large
differences in the time it takes these waves to
travel through the inner core suggested to
scientists that its structure might be more
complex than previously thought.
Many simple models were proposed to try to explain these differences but none of them
were able to provide an explanation, this new research fills in some of the gaps.
Being able to explain the complexities that the inner core exhibits is crucial to
understanding how the deep Earth evolved. The growth of the inner core indirectly
drives the motion in the outer core which in turn produces the Earth's magnetic field, so
understanding the core is integral to understanding this phenomenon.
The new study, published in Geophysical Research Letters suggests that differences in
seismic wave behaviour may be caused by convection. Convection is the same process
which means radiators can heat an entire room. As air near the radiator becomes warms
it becomes less dense, this makes it rise and push the cool, denser air near the ceiling
out of the way. The cool air is pushed near to the radiator where it warms, and the
circulation continues. The same process happens inside the core.
'Slow cooling of the whole Earth is causing the liquid outer core to solidify from the
bottom up, adding to the edges of the solid inner core. That material, at the top of the
inner core, is denser than the material below,' says Dr Chris Davies, one of the authors
of the study, from the University of Leeds, 'When you have dense material overlying
light material the light material wants to rise and the dense wants to sink - making it
unstable.' It is this instability which causes convection to occur.
Some researchers assumed the inner core was hotter in the centre and that this change
in temperature from the centre to the edge could also cause convection as the cool
material at the edge wants to sink.
But Davies says the convection is due to heavier, not cooler, material. 'We show the
driving force of the convection is different to previous assumptions. Instead of the
driving force being a difference in temperature, it's now a difference in composition.'
Previous work showed the inner core should be able to transfer most of its heat by
passing it through to the next layer by conduction - where the heat moves but the
material doesn't. But this would mean there wasn't enough heat left to cause convection.
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So, many scientists were dubious about convection as an explanation for the behaviour
of the seismic waves.
'Whilst previous work put a dampener on the convection argument, and it seemed
convection wasn't enough to prove these seismic anomalies, we show that convection
could be behind the striking inner core complexity we observe.' says Davies. 'We show
that this mechanism is possible, in principle.'
Inner core convection is a hot topic in deep Earth research at the moment and, while
this study shows convection is possible in theory, the next stage is to know what this
might look like in reality, using dynamic simulations.
D. Gubbins, D. Alf, C. J. Davies (2013) Compositional instability of earth's solid inner
core Geophysical Research Letters DOI: 10.1002/grl.50186
-//-
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Growth of Earth's inner core may be a precursor

to the magnetic reversal
July 18, 2012
http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2012/07/18/growth-of-earths-inner-core-may-be-aprecursor-to-the-magnetic-reversal/
A new finding suggests that shifts in the geomagnetic field are connected to growth of
the inner core. Peter Olson and Renaud Deguen of Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Maryland, used numerical modelling to establish that the axis of Earth's
magnetic field lies in the growing hemisphere. While one side of Earth's solid inner
core grows slightly, the other half melts.
As the Earth spins, the molten iron inside churns and flows in a fairly stable manner for
millennia. For some reason during geomagnetic reversal, some instability causes an
interruption to the steady generation of a global magnetic field, causing it to flip-flop
between the poles. In addition to the North-South dipole, there is a weaker magnetic
field spread around the planet, probably generated in the outer core of the Earth.
The magnetic field strength is currently experiencing a downward trend. Should the
stronger dipole (north-south) field reduce below the magnetic field strength of this
usually weaker, distributed field, a geomagnetic reversal is possible.
Researchers speculate that rapid movements of the field's axis to the east in the last few
hundred years may be a precursor to the north and south poles trading places.
Earth's magnetic field reverses direction every few thousand years, and if it happened
now, we would be exposed to solar winds capable of knocking out global
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communications and power grids.
Seismic images of Earths inner core reveal an eastwest dichotomy. This dichotomy has
been interpreted as lopsided growth, with faster solidification on one hemisphere of the
inner core boundary, and slower solidification and perhaps melting on the other. New
study suggest a correlation between these shifts and reversals of Earth's magnetic field.
Bruce Buffett of the University of California, Berkeley, says the authors present an
intriguing proof of concept with their model.
Most of the time the Earths field is dominated by a geocentric axial dipole component,
with normal and reversed polarities represented in essentially equal portions. Polarity
reversals are the transitions between these two states. Excursions are possibly related
phenomena. During an excursion the field departs substantially from a geocentric axial
dipole for a few thousand years, then returns to its original polarity.
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The geomagnetic dipole moment has decreased by nearly 6% per century since first
measured by Gauss in the 1840s. This is 10-20 times faster than the Ohmic decay rate of
the fundamental mode dipole field in the core (upper left). The causes of this rapid
decrease are the proliferation of reverse magnetic field on the core-mantle boundary,
especially beneath the South Atlantic (upper right), and the advection of magnetic field
from high to low latitudes by flow in the outer core (lower left). The combination of
advection of magnetic field on the core-mantle boundary and radial diffusion of through
the core-mantle boundary is weakening the dipole moment (lower right).
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The Earths field has alternated between periods of normal polarity, in which the
direction of the field was the same as the present direction, and reverse polarity, in
which the field was in the opposite direction. These periods are called chrons. The time
spans of chrons are randomly distributed with most being between 0.1 and 1 million
years. Most reversals are estimated to take between 1,000 and 10,000 years. The latest
one, the BrunhesMatuyama reversal, occurred 780,000 years ago. But brief
disruptions that do not result in reversal are called geomagnetic excursions.
Motion of the earths liquid core, the so-called geodynamo, generates its magnetic field.
Gauthier Hulot of the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and his colleagues used
satellite data recorded 20 years apart to track changes in this field. In two regions of the
boundary between the earths core and the overlying mantle, the researchers detected a
reversed magnetic field. In a section
lying beneath the southern tip of Africa,
the magnetic field points toward the
center of the earth opposite to the
dominant outward-pointing field of the
Southern Hemisphere. And a second
congregation of reversed-flux patches
exists near the North Pole. Having
modeled the growth and movement of
these inverted-flux sections, they can
now account for nearly the entire
decrease in the main dipole field of the
earth over the past 150 years.
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After some 400 years of relative stability, Earths North Magnetic Pole has moved nearly
1,100 kilometers out into the Arctic Ocean during the last century and at its present rate
could move from northern Canada to Siberia within the next half-century. However,
rapid movement of the magnetic pole doesnt necessarily mean that our planet is going
through a large-scale change that would result in the reversal of the Earths magnetic
field. It may also be part of a normal oscillation. Calculations of the North Magnetic
Poles location from historical records goes back only about 400 years, while polar
observations trace back to John Ross in 1838 at the west coast of Boothia Peninsula.
Some scientists point that the Northern Lights, which are triggered by the sun and fixed
in position by the magnetic field, drift with the movement of the North Magnetic Pole
and may soon be visible in more southerly parts of Siberia and Europe and less so in
northern Canada and Alaska.
Source: Nature Geoscience, NewScientist, John Hopkins University, ScientificAmerican,
Oregon State University. Featured image: Schematic illustration of Earth's magnetic field.
Credit/Copyright: Peter Reid, The University of Edinburgh
-//-
Compositional instability of Earth's solid inner core

Gubbins D, Alfe D, Davies CJ
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/biblio/compositional-instability-earths-solid-inner-core
Abstract: All models that invoke convection to explain the observed seismic variations
in Earth's inner core require unstable inner core stratification. Previous work has
assumed that chemical effects are stabilizing and focused on thermal convection, but
recent calculations indicate that the thermal conductivity at core temperatures and
pressures is so large that the inner core must cool entirely by conduction. We examine
partitioning of oxygen, sulfur, and silicon in binary iron alloys and show that inner core
growth results in a variable light element concentration with time: oxygen concentration
decreases, sulfur concentration decreases initially and increases later, and silicon
produces a negligible effect to within the model errors. The result is a net destabilizing
concentration gradient. Convective stability is measured by a Rayleigh number, which
exceeds the critical value for reasonable estimates of the viscosity and diffusivity. Our
results suggest that inner core convection models, including the recently proposed
translational mode, can be viable candidates for explaining seismic results if the driving
force is compositional.
-//-
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Anomalous splitting of core sensitive modes: a reevaluation of
possible interpretations
B. Romanowicz and L. Brger Introduction
http://seismo.berkeley.edu/annual_report/ar98_99/node27.html
Inner core anisotropy was proposed 13 years ago to explain two categories of intriguing
observations: (1) faster propagation times for seismic body waves that travel through the
inner core along paths quasi-parallel to the earth's rotation axis, than for those that
travel on equatorial paths (Poupinet et al., 1983; Morelli et al., 1986), and (2) anomalous
splitting of core-sensitive free oscillations (Masters and Gilbert, 1981; Woodhouse et al.,
1986). These observations have been confirmed in many subsequent studies (e.g.
Shearer, 1991; Creager, 1992; Vinnik et al., 1994; Su and Dziewonski, 1995) and models
of inner core anisotropy have been progressively refined. These models were originally
cast in terms of constant transverse isotropy with fast axis parallel to the earth's rotation
axis, for which an interpretation in terms of alignment of hcp-Fe crystals was proposed.
Over the years, inner core anisotropy models have become more complex. Depth
dependence was introduced (Su and Dziewonski, 1995; Tromp, 1993) and more complex
spatial dependence suggested (Li et al., 1991; Romanowicz et al., 1996; Durek and
Romanowicz, 1999). Most recently, several studies have proposed even stronger
departures from simple models of inner core anisotropy. An asymmetry in the
anisotropy pattern was pointed out (Tanaka and Hamaguchi, 1997; Creager, 1999), with
one "quasi-hemisphere" of the inner core anisotropic and the other not, and it has been
argued that the top 100-200 km of the inner core may be isotropic and laterally varying
(Song and Helmberger, 1998). Strong, small scale variation in the anisotropy along a
highly anomalous path between the South Sandwich Islands and station COL in Alaska
has also been documented (Creager, 1997).
The necessity to modify the simple original model of constant anisotropy, and introduce
significant complexity, has become quite clear. Moreover, we have recently proposed
that an important contribution to the trend of travel time residuals, as a function of
angle of the path with respect to the rotation axis, for PKP(AB)-PKP(DF) data, could
come from strong heterogeneity in D" (Brger et al., 1999a) and we proposed a possible
trade-off between D" structure and inner core anisotropy in the interpretation of
differential PKP travel time data (also PKP(BC)-PKP(DF), Brger et al., 1999b).
Even if we accept an interpretation of PKP observations in terms of a complex inner core

anisotropy model, some of the recent observations are in contradiction with the normal
mode splitting observations. Indeed, since normal modes are primarily sensitive to even
order structure, it is difficult to reconcile the hemispherical model (Tanaka and
Hamaguchi, 1997; Creager, 1999) with the dominant zonal "C20" component of
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anomalous splitting observations. Likewise, since modes are primarily sensitive to the
uppermost third of the inner core, their splitting becomes more difficult to explain in
terms of anisotropy if there is an isotropic layer several hundred km thick at the top of
the inner core (Durek and Romanowicz, 1999).
Alternative interpretations for anomalous mode splitting have been proposed in terms
of outer core heterogeneity (Ritzwoller et al., 1988; Widmer et al., 1992).
In view of the recent controversies regarding the level and complexity of inner core
anisotropy, we have decided to reexamine the issue of interpretation of anomalous
mode splitting data. We are assisted in this process by the recent accumulation of high
quality low frequency data, owing to the expansion of the global digital broadband
network and the occurrence of several very large deep earthquakes, in particular the
M8.2 Bolivia earthquake of June 9, 1994.
Data Analysis
We have assembled a spheroidal mode splitting dataset for 79 normal modes sensitive
either primarily to structure in the mantle (42 modes) or both to structure in the mantle
and in the core (37 modes). These data are tabulated in terms of measured splitting
coefficients, as defined below, from three sources: measurements by Resovsky and
Ritzwoller (1998) mostly for mantle modes, by He and Tromp (1996) for a combination
of mantle and core modes, complemented by our own dataset, primarily for core modes
(Durek and Romanowicz, 1999).
Figure 22.1 shows a comparison of C20 measurements from the 3 sources considered,
giving a sense of uncertainty on the splitting measurements. In most cases, agreement
between different groups are excellent (also with measurements from Laske and
Masters, personal communication). We have distinguished mantle modes (top panel)
and modes with significant sensitivity to core structure (bottom panel). We classify the
latter into "outer core" modes ("oc"), that are not sensitive to inner core structure, and
two categories of "inner core" modes: (1) those with less than 4% sensitivity to inner
core structure (modes 2S3-21S8, category "ic1") and (2) those with stronger sensitivity
to inner core structure (modes 8S1-3S2, category "ic2"). Mode 3S2 has been assigned to
category "ic2", only because it has significant sensitivity to S-velocity in the inner core.
We will single out this particular mode, which exhibits the strongest anomalous
splitting, the largest uncertainties in the measurements, as well as the largest sensitivity
to inner core anisotropy.
Two observations are striking: for mantle modes, the predictions of SAW12D follow the
data quite closely for all branches, although the amplitudes in the 0S and 1S branches
are underpredicted. For core sensitive modes, we note, as previous authors, that the
mantle model predicts practically no splitting for modes with any sensitivity to inner
core structure, whereas the data consistently show a high level of splitting. This is
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referred to in the literature as "anomalous" splitting. We note that, except for mode 3S2,
the level of splitting observed for modes in categories ic1 and ic2 is comparable, with a
few modes exhibiting somewhat larger splitting in both datasets (2S3 and 6S3 in ic1 and
13S1, 13S2 in ic2).
The results of our study can be summarized as follows: (1) inner core anisotropy
improves the overall fit to data compared to a model with aspherical structure restricted
to the mantle; (2) when mode 3S2 is excluded from the dataset, simple models with
heterogeneity in the outer core fit the data consistently better than simple inner core
anisotropy models; (3) when mode 3S2 is included, overall residual variances are
smallest or inner core anisotropy models. However, the splitting of 3S2 is fit at the
expense of that of the 5S mantle mode branch, sensitive to P-velocity in the mantle. (4)
outer core models are more stable and consistent with each other than inner core
models, when different subsets of core modes are inverted (i.e. modes with small versus
large sensitivity in the inner core).(5) Lateral heterogeneity in the mantle alone (in
particular D") cannot consistently account for the splitting of all modes.
Simple anisotropic models of the inner core are therefore not sufficient to
simultaneously explain the splitting of spheroidal mantle and core modes, and a
combination of deep mantle and outer core structure contributes significantly to the
pattern of splitting. The outer core structure retrieved is consistent with either
heterogeneity associated with the Taylor cylinder tangent to the earth's inner core, or
the possible existence of a stagnant layer at the top of the outer core, enriched in light
material. In the latter case, we conjecture that a small amount of shear could help
reconcile the large splitting of 3S2 with that of other core and mantle modes. Such
models deserve further investigation.
References, etc.
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Why Earth's Magnetic Field Is Wonky
Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet Contributor | July 18, 2012 09:53am ET

http://www.livescience.com/21668-why-earth-magnetic-field-wonky.html
The solution to a long-standing puzzle, why magnetic north sits off the coast of Canada,
rather than at the North Pole, may have been found in the strange, lopsided nature of
Earth's inner core.
The inner core is a ball of
solid iron about 760 miles
(1,220 kilometers) wide. It is
surrounded by a liquid outer
core (mostly iron and
nickel), a rocky, viscous
mantle layer and a thin,
solid crust.
As the inner core cools,
crystallizing iron releases
impurities, sending lighter
molten material into the
liquid outer core. This
upwelling, combined with
the Earth's rotation, drives convection, forcing the molten metal into whirling vortices.
These vortices stretch and twist magnetic field lines, creating Earths magnetic field.
Currently, the center of the field, called an axis, emerges in the Arctic Ocean west of
Ellesmere Island, about 300 miles (500 kilometers) from the geographic North Pole.
In the last decade, seismic waves from earthquakes revealed the inner core looks like a
navel orange, bulging slightly more on its western half. Geoscientists recently
explainedthe asymmetry by proposing a convective loop: The inner core might be
crystallizing on one half and melting on the other.
Peter Olson and Renaud Deguen, geophysicists at Johns Hopkins University, set out to
test this theory, called translational instability. They ran numerical models simulating
the forces that generate Earths magnetic field, and included a lopsided inner core.
Olson and Deguen found that adding inner-core asymmetry shifted magnetic north
away from the center of the Earth, into the cooling hemisphere. Convection was stronger
there, as was the magnetic field.
"The lopsided growth of the inner core makes convection in the outer core a little bit
lopsided, and that then induces the geomagnetic field to have this lopsided or eccentric
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character too," Olson told OurAmazingPlanet. Olson and Deguen's research was
detailed online July 1 in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Geophysicist Bruce Buffett said Olson and Deguens research is intriguing, but there are
still questions about the underlying theory. "It's an interesting result, but we don't know
for sure the inner core is translating. The model does a good job at explaining some but
not all of the features of the inner core," said Buffett, a professor at the University of
California, Berkeley, who was not involved with the research.
Olson points out that his numerical model offers a real-world proof of the theory.
Magnetic particles trapped and aligned in rocks reveal that the magnetic north pole
wandered around the Western Hemisphere over the past 10,000 years, and circled the
Eastern Hemisphere before that a result mirrored by the numerical test. Gathering a
longer, more detailed record of the magnetic field's behavior, Olson said, could reveal
whether the inner core acts as researchers predict.
"The key question for interesting ideas like translational instability is, 'Can we test it?'"
Olson said. "What we're doing is proposing a test, and we think it's a good test because
people can go out and look for eccentricity in the rock record and that will either
confirm or shoot down this idea."
This article was provided by OurAmazingPlanet, a sister site to LiveScience.
-//-
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Earth's magnetic field could flip within a human

lifetime
October 14, 2014 - University of California Berkeley
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141014170841.htm
Summary:
Earth's last magnetic reversal took place 786,000 years ago and happened very quickly,
in less than 100 years -- roughly a human lifetime. The rapid flip, much faster than the
thousands of years most geologists thought, comes as new measurements show the
planet's magnetic
field is weakening 10
times faster than
normal and could
drop to zero in a few
thousand years.
The 'north pole' -- that is,
the direction of magnetic
north -- was reversed a
million years ago. This
map shows how, starting
about 789,000 years ago,
the north pole wandered
around Antarctica for
several thousand years before flipping 786,000 years ago to the orientation we know today, with the pole
somewhere in the Arctic.
Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - Berkeley
Imagine the world waking up one morning to discover that all compasses pointed south
instead of north.
It's not as bizarre as it sounds. Earth's magnetic field has flipped -- though not overnight
-- many times throughout the planet's history. Its dipole magnetic field, like that of a bar
magnet, remains about the same intensity for thousands to millions of years, but for
incompletely known reasons it occasionally weakens and, presumably over a few
thousand years, reverses direction.
Now, a new study by a team of scientists from Italy, France, Columbia University and
the University of California, Berkeley, demonstrates that the last magnetic reversal
786,000 years ago actually happened very quickly, in less than 100 years -- roughly a
human lifetime.
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"It's amazing how rapidly we see that reversal," said UC Berkeley graduate student
Courtney Sprain. "The paleomagnetic data are very well done. This is one of the best
records we have so far of what happens during a reversal and how quickly these
reversals can happen."
Sprain and Paul Renne, director of the Berkeley Geochronology Center and a UC
Berkeley professor-in- residence of earth and planetary science, are coauthors of the
study, which will be published in the November issue of Geophysical Journal
International and is now available online.
Flip could affect electrical grid, cancer rates
The discovery comes as new evidence indicates that the intensity of Earth's magnetic
field is decreasing 10 times faster than normal, leading some geophysicists to predict a
reversal within a few thousand years.
Though a magnetic reversal is a major planet-wide event driven by convection in Earth's
iron core, there are no documented catastrophes associated with past reversals, despite
much searching in the geologic and biologic record. Today, however, such a reversal
could potentially wreak havoc with our electrical grid, generating currents that might
take it down.
And since Earth's magnetic field protects life from energetic particles from the sun and
cosmic rays, both of which can cause genetic mutations, a weakening or temporary loss
of the field before a permanent reversal could increase cancer rates. The danger to life
would be even greater if flips were preceded by long periods of unstable magnetic
behavior.
"We should be thinking more about what the biologic effects would be," Renne said.
Dating ash deposits from windward volcanoes
The new finding is based on measurements of the magnetic field alignment in layers of
ancient lake sediments now exposed in the Sulmona basin of the Apennine Mountains
east of Rome, Italy. The lake sediments are interbedded with ash layers erupted from
the Roman volcanic province, a large area of volcanoes upwind of the former lake that
includes periodically erupting volcanoes near Sabatini, Vesuvius and the Alban Hills.
Italian researchers led by Leonardo Sagnotti of Rome's National Institute of Geophysics
and Volcanology measured the magnetic field directions frozen into the sediments as
they accumulated at the bottom of the ancient lake.
Sprain and Renne used argon-argon dating, a method widely used to determine the ages
of rocks, whether they're thousands or billions of years old, to determine the age of ash
layers above and below the sediment layer recording the last reversal. These dates were
confirmed by their colleague and former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Sebastien
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Nomade of the Laboratory of Environmental and Climate Sciences in Gif-Sur-Yvette,
France.
Because the lake sediments were deposited at a high and steady rate over a 10,000-year
period, the team was able to interpolate the date of the layer showing the magnetic
reversal, called the Matuyama-Brunhes transition, at approximately 786,000 years ago.
This date is far more precise than that from previous studies, which placed the reversal
between 770,000 and 795,000 years ago.
"What's incredible is that you go from reverse polarity to a field that is normal with
essentially nothing in between, which means it had to have happened very quickly,
probably in less than 100 years," said Renne. "We don't know whether the next reversal
will occur as suddenly as this one did, but we also don't know that it won't."
Unstable magnetic field preceded 180-degree flip
Whether or not the new finding spells trouble for modern civilization, it likely will help
researchers understand how and why Earth's magnetic field episodically reverses
polarity, Renne said.
The magnetic record the Italian-led team obtained shows that the sudden 180-degree
flip of the field was preceded by a period of instability that spanned more than 6,000
years. The instability included two intervals of low magnetic field strength that lasted
about 2,000 years each. Rapid changes in field orientations may have occurred within
the first interval of low strength. The full magnetic polarity reversal -- that is, the final
and very rapid flip to what the field is today -- happened toward the end of the most
recent interval of low field strength.
Renne is continuing his collaboration with the Italian-French team to correlate the lake
record with past climate change. Renne and Sprain's work at the Berkeley
Geochronology Center was supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.
Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by University of California - Berkeley. The original article
was written by Robert Sanders. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference:
L. Sagnotti, G. Scardia, B. Giaccio, J. C. Liddicoat, S. Nomade, P. R. Renne, C. J. Sprain. Extremely rapid
directional change during Matuyama-Brunhes geomagnetic polarity reversal. Geophysical Journal
International, 2014; 199 (2): 1110 DOI: 10.1093/gji/ggu287
-//-
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Earths Iron Core is not Rock Solid

May 2013
http://www.futurity.org/earths-iron-core-is-not-rock-solid
Researchers squeezed iron at pressures as high as 3 million times that felt at sea level to
recreate conditions at Earths center. The results suggest the core is uneven, grainy, and
weak.
-//http://www.space.com/23131-earth-magnetic-field-shift-explained.html
Earth's magnetic field shields the planet from charged particles streaming from the sun,
keeping it from becoming a barren, Mars-like rock. For more than 300 years, scientists
have recorded a westward-drifting feature in the field that models have been unable to
explain.
Since the magnetic field shields Earth from harmful solar radiation, which could strip
the planet of its protective atmosphere, it is important to understand how it changes and
will change over time.
[Earth's magnetic field is weakening overall and may undergo reversal in near future.
During this reversal period, magnetic fields may become extremely low, approaching
zero with chaotic interactions during the transition phase. ASK]
-//-
The Truth about Earth's Core?
http://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/Phys-earth-core.html
In fact, for at least the last 160 million years, as known from evidence preserved in the
geological record, Earth's magnetic field has often reversed polarity. The story is told by
tiny magnetic domains in layered basalts on land and on the spreading ocean floors,
frozen in different orientations.
Core spin isn't implicated, however. The solid inner core turns only once every 120 years
or so, relative to the rest of the planet. No one knows the real reason for field reversals.
[ The sun is the most likely suspect as its field influences the earth's field and the sun's
field has been reversing polarity this year. ASK ]
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Glatzmaier has the best model for flow in the liquid core, which is very hard to do in 3D," says Muller. "His simulation incidentally produced one rapid, spontaneous field
reversal -- not surprising, but presumably reassuring to him, since his field-reversal
theory is chaos theory."
"There is a long literature on the association of asteroid/comet impacts and magnetic
field reversals," Muller says. "The association of mass extinctions with impacts is well
known, of course. And there is also an association of mass extinctions with flood
basalts."
But how could impacts lead to flood basalts -- outpourings of thin fluid lava covering
vast areas? Muller surmised that a sufficiently powerful oblique impact would unleash a
CMB avalanche big enough to strip a patch of the lower mantle bare of insulating
sediments. Hot iron would heat the exposed mantle rapidly; within a few million years a
plume of magma would rise to the crust and burst out in titanic eruptions.
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/mloa-eruptions.html
[ And here, in a summary of the Launa Loa eruptions in Hawaii, there is mention of
rapid "erosion" of ancient spatter cones by the unusually hot and fluid lava. I would
suggest the spatter cone material was as much or more re-melted, as it would be
mechanically "eroded". So an interesting note with regard to the sequence shown me in
which crustal material would become dissolved by very hot lava flowing from deep
under the crust. -ASK ].
-//-
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Earth's lower mantle chemistry breakthrough
May 22, 2014

http://phys.org/news/2014-05-earth-mantle-chemistry-breakthrough.html#inlRlv
Breaking research news from a team of scientists led by Carnegie's Ho-kwang "Dave"
Mao reveals that the composition of the Earth's lower mantle may be significantly
different than previously thought. These results are to be published by Science.
The lower mantle comprises 55
percent of the planet by volume and
extends from 670 and 2900
kilometers in depth, as defined by the
so-called transition zone (top) and the
core-mantle boundary (below).
Pressures in the lower mantle start at
237,000 times atmospheric pressure
(24 gigapascals) and reach 1.3 million
times atmospheric pressure (136
gigapascals) at the core-mantle
boundary.
The prevailing theory has been that the
majority of the lower mantle is made up of a
single ferromagnesian silicate mineral,
commonly called perovskite (Mg,Fe)SiO3)
defined through its chemistry and structure. It
was thought that perovskite didn't change
structure over the enormous range of pressures
and temperatures spanning the lower mantle.
Recent experiments that simulate the
conditions of the lower mantle using laserheated diamond anvil cells, at pressures
between 938,000 and 997,000 times
atmospheric pressure (95 and 101 gigapascals)
and temperatures between 3,500 and 3,860
degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 and 2,400 Kelvin),
now reveal that iron bearing perovskite is, in
fact, unstable in the lower mantle.
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The team finds that the mineral disassociates into two phases one a magnesium silicate
perovskite missing iron, which is represented by the Fe portion of the chemical formula,
and a new mineral, that is iron-rich and hexagonal in structure, called the H-phase.
Experiments confirm that this iron-rich H-phase is more stable than iron bearing
perovskite, much to everyone's surprise. This means it is likely a prevalent and
previously unknown species in the lower mantle. This may change our understanding of
the deep Earth.
"We still don't fully understand the chemistry of the H-phase," said lead author Li
Zhang, also of Carnegie. "But this finding indicates that all geodynamic models need to
be reconsidered to take the H-phase into account. And there could be even more
unidentified phases down there in the lower mantle as well, waiting to be identified."
-//-
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When the Hawaiian Islands collapse and fall apart

in landslides
January 28, 2014 by The Extinction Protocol
http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2014/01/28/when-the-hawaii-islandscollapse-and-fall-apart-in-landslides/
January 28, 2014 HAWAII - In our January Volcano Watch articles Hawaii Islands
fifth annual Volcano Awareness Month we are exploring important questions about
how Hawaiian volcanoes work. Last week, we discussed how Hawaiian Islands grow;
this week, we talk about how they fall apart. In 1964, irregular submarine topography
north of Oahu and Molokai was identified in newly available maps of the sea floor made
by the U.S. Navy. James Moore, then Scientist-in-Charge at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano
Observatory, suggested that this odd bathymetry might reflect massive landslides
originating from those islands. Moores interpretation was disputed for more than 20
years until comprehensive mapping of the sea floor around the entire state of Hawaii
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was completed in the late 1980s. It turned out that Moore was right. Large even
catastrophic submarine landslide structures litter the sea floor around the Hawaiian
Islands. In fact, 17 major landslides have been identified off the shores of the main
Hawaiian Islands. Fortunately, these slides are exceedingly rare occurring, on
average, only once every 350,000 years. The largest landslides constitute significant
portions of the islands from which they originated. Imagine if 10 percent of one of the
islands suddenly collapsed into the ocean. Such an event would displace a huge amount
of water and cause a large tsunami.
Deposits of coral and sand have been found approximately 1,000 feet above sea level on
several of the Hawaiian Islands. Catastrophic landslides are believed to have generated
gigantic tsunami waves that washed ashore and left these deposits behind. Evidence
across the Hawaiian Islands suggests that landslides occur during all stages of a
volcanos life. The submarine volcano Loihi the youngest in the Hawaiian chain,
located southeast of Hawaii Island is characterized by a number of small landslides,
even though the volcano hasnt yet breached the surface of the ocean. On the other
hand, large landslides from Oahu and Molokai clearly occurred well after the islands
were established above sea level. We also know that not all landslides in Hawaii are
catastrophic. The south flank of Kilauea is sliding continuously into the ocean at a rate
of about 3 inches a year. This motion is punctuated by large, devastating earthquakes
that can cause tens of feet of seaward motion in just a few seconds as when the
magnitude 7.7 temblor struck Hawaii Island in 1975 as well as slow earthquakes
that are associated with a few inches of seaward motion over the course of one to two
days.
Will Kilaueas south flank ever collapse suddenly? Since the shape of the south flank
indicates that the slide has been active for thousands of years, there is no reason to
expect that its behavior will change any time soon. Although most evidence suggests
that it will continue to sag gradually, this question remains open to interpretation.
What, then, causes large landslides in Hawaii? Models suggest that magma pressure
alone is not adequate to produce a massive landslide. One can imagine a scenario,
however, in which a large eruption weakens an already unstable volcano, allowing
gravity to pull the volcano apart. Future scientific research must focus on the
mechanism for giant landslides in Hawaii, which represent a major, infrequent hazard.
Since other volcanic islands such as the Canaries and the Azores are also subject to
catastrophic collapse, lessons learned from the Hawaii example might be fruitfully
applied to mitigating hazards for the benefit of citizens elsewhere around the world.
Next week, our annual Volcano Awareness Month Volcano Watch series will conclude
with an examination of questions related to volcano monitoring. -WHT
-//-
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Textbook Theory Behind Volcanoes May be Wrong

Sep 08, 2014
http://phys.org/news/2014-09-textbook-theory-volcanoes-wrong.html
In the typical textbook picture, volcanoes, such as those that are forming the Hawaiian
islands, erupt when magma gushes out as narrow jets from deep inside Earth. But that
picture is wrong, according to a new study from researchers at Caltech and the
University of Miami in Florida.
New seismology data are now confirming that such narrow jets don't actually exist, says
Don Anderson, the Eleanor and John R. McMillian Professor of Geophysics, Emeritus,
at Caltech. In fact, he adds, basic physics doesn't support the presence of these jets,
called mantle plumes, and the new results corroborate those fundamental ideas.
"Mantle plumes have never had a sound physical or logical basis," Anderson says. "They
are akin to Rudyard Kipling's 'Just So Stories' about how giraffes got their long necks."
Anderson and James Natland, a professor emeritus of marine geology and geophysics at
the University of Miami, describe their analysis online in the September 8 issue of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
According to current mantle-plume theory, Anderson explains, heat from Earth's core
somehow generates narrow jets of hot magma that gush through the mantle and to the
surface. The jets act as pipes that transfer heat from the core, and how exactly they're
created isn't clear, he says. But they have been assumed to exist, originating near where
the Earth's core meets the mantle, almost 3,000 kilometers undergroundnearly
halfway to the planet's center. The jets are theorized to be no more than about 300
kilometers wide, and when they reach the surface, they produce hot spots.
While the top of the mantle is a sort of fluid sludge, the uppermost layer is rigid rock,
broken up into plates that float on the magma-bearing layers. Magma from the mantle
beneath the plates bursts through the plate to create volcanoes. As the plates drift across
the hot spots, a chain of volcanoes formssuch as the island chains of Hawaii and
Samoa.
"Much of solid-Earth science for the past 20 yearsand large amounts of moneyhave
been spent looking for elusive narrow mantle plumes that wind their way upward
through the mantle," Anderson says.
To look for the hypothetical plumes, researchers analyze global seismic activity.
Everything from big quakes to tiny tremors sends seismic waves echoing through
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Earth's interior. The type of material that the waves pass through influences the
properties of those waves, such as their speeds. By measuring those waves using
hundreds of seismic stations installed on the surface, near places such as Hawaii,
Iceland, and Yellowstone National Park, researchers can deduce whether there are
narrow mantle plumes or whether volcanoes are simply created from magma that's
absorbed in the sponge-like shallower mantle.
No one has been able to detect the predicted narrow plumes, although the evidence has
not been conclusive. The jets could have simply been too thin to be seen, Anderson says.
Very broad features beneath the surface have been interpreted as plumes or superplumes, but, still, they're far too wide to be considered narrow jets.
But now, thanks in part to more seismic stations spaced closer together and improved
theory, analysis of the planet's seismology is good enough to confirm that there are no
narrow mantle plumes, Anderson and Natland say. Instead, data reveal that there are
large, slow, upward-moving chunks of mantle a thousand kilometers wide.
In the mantle-plume theory, Anderson explains, the heat that is transferred upward via
jets is balanced by the slower downward motion of cooled, broad, uniform chunks of
mantle. The behavior is similar to that of a lava lamp, in which blobs of wax are heated
from below and then rise before cooling and falling. But a fundamental problem with
this picture is that lava lamps require electricity, he says, and that is an outside energy
source that an isolated planet like Earth does not have.
The new measurements suggest that what is really happening is just the opposite:
Instead of narrow jets, there are broad upwellings, which are balanced by narrow
channels of sinking material called slabs. What is driving this motion is not heat from
the core, but cooling at Earth's surface. In fact, Anderson says, the behavior is the
regular mantle convection first proposed more than a century ago by Lord Kelvin. When
material in the planet's crust cools, it sinks, displacing material deeper in the mantle
and forcing it upward.
"What's new is incredibly simple: upwellings in the mantle are thousands of kilometers
across," Anderson says. The formation of volcanoes then follows from plate tectonics
the theory of how Earth's plates move and behave. Magma, which is less dense than the
surrounding mantle, rises until it reaches the bottom of the plates or fissures that run
through them. Stresses in the plates, cracks, and other tectonic forces can squeeze the
magma out, like how water is squeezed out of a sponge. That magma then erupts out of
the surface as volcanoes. The magma comes from within the upper 200 kilometers of
the mantle and not thousands of kilometers deep, as the mantle-plume theory suggests.
"This is a simple demonstration that volcanoes are the result of normal broad-scale
convection and plate tectonics," Anderson says. He calls this theory "top-down
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tectonics," based on Kelvin's initial principles of mantle convection. In this picture, the
engine behind Earth's interior processes is not heat from the core but cooling at the
planet's surface. This cooling and plate tectonics drives mantle convection, the cooling
of the core, and Earth's magnetic field. Volcanoes and cracks in the plate are simply side
effects.
The results also have an important consequence for rock compositionsnotably the
ratios of certain isotopes, Natland says. According to the mantle-plume idea, the
measured compositions derive from the mixing of material from reservoirs separated by
thousands of kilometers in the upper and lower mantle. But if there are no mantle
plumes, then all of that mixing must have happened within the upwellings and nearby
mantle in Earth's top 1,000 kilometers.
The paper is titled "Mantle updrafts and mechanisms of oceanic volcanism."
-//-
New insight into the temperature of deep Earth

May 22, 2014
http://phys.org/news/2014-05-insight-temperature-deep-earth.html#inlRlv
Scientists from the Magma and Volcanoes Laboratory (CNRS) and the European
Synchrotron, the ESRF, have recreated the extreme conditions 600 to 2900 km below
the Earth's surface to investigate the melting of basalt in the oceanic tectonic plates.
They exposed microscopic pieces of rock to these extreme pressures and temperatures
while simultaneously studying their structure with the ESRF's extremely powerful X-ray
beam.
The results show that basalt produced on the ocean floor has a melting temperature
lower than the peridotite which forms the Earth's mantle. Near the core-mantle
boundary, where the temperature rises rapidly, the melting basalt produces liquids rich
in silica (SiO2), which react rapidly with the mantle and indicate a speedy dissolution of
the basalt back into the depths of the Earth. These experiments provide a new
explanation for seismic anomalies at the base of the mantle while fixing its temperature
in the region of 4000 K. The results are published in Science on the 23 May 2014.
The Earth is an active planet. The heat it contains is capable of inducing the mantle
convection responsible for plate tectonics. This energy comes from the heat accumulated
during the formation of our planet, the latent heat of crystallization of the inner core,
and radioactive decay. The temperatures inside the Earth, however, are not well known.
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Convection causes hot material to rise to the surface of the Earth and cold material to
sink towards the core. Thus, when the ascending mantle begins to melt at the base of the
oceanic ridges, the basalt flows along the surface to form what we call the oceanic crust.
"Over the course of millennia the crust will then undergo subduction, its greater density
causing it to sink into the mantle. This is why the Earth's continents are known to be
several billion years old, while the oldest oceanic crust only dates back 165 million
years" said Mohamed Mezouar, scientist at the ESRF.
The temperature at the core-mantle boundary (also known as the D" region) is thought
to increase by more than 1000 degrees over a few hundred kilometers, which is
significant compared to the temperature gradient across the rest of the mantle. Previous
authors have suggested that this temperature rise could cause the partial melting of the
mantle, but this hypothesis leaves a number of geophysical observations unexplained.
Firstly, the anomalies in the propagation speed of seismic waves do not match those
expected for a partial melting of the mantle, and secondly, the melting mantle should
lead to the production of liquid pockets in the lowermost mantle, a phenomenon which
has never been observed.
The team led by Professor Denis Andrault from the Universit Blaise Pascal decided
instead to study the melting point of basalt at high depths, and found that it was
significantly lower than that of the mantle. The melting of sub-oceanic basalt piles could
therefore be responsible for the previously unexplained seismic anomalies. The
researchers also showed that the melting basalt generates a liquid rich in SiO2. As the
mantle itself contains large quantities of MgO, the interaction of these liquids with the
mantle is expected to produce a rapid reaction leading to the formation of the solid
MgSiO3 perovskite. This would explain why no liquid pockets have been detected by
seismologists in the deep mantle: any streams of liquid should rapidly re-solidify.
If it is indeed the basalt and not the mantle whose melting in the D"-region is
responsible for the observed seismic anomalies, then the temperature at the core-mantle
boundary must be between 3800 and 4150 Kelvin, between the melting points of basalt
and the Earth's mantle. If this hypothesis is correct, this would be the most accurate
determination of the temperature at the core-mantle boundary available today. "It could
solve a long time controversy about the peculiar role of the core-mantle boundary in the
dynamical properties of the Earth mantle, said Professor Denis Andrault. ''We know
now that the cycle of crust formation at the mid-ocean ridges and crust dissolution in
the lowermost mantle may have occured since plate tectonics were active on our planet'',
he added.
More information: "Melting of subducted basalt at the core-mantle boundary," by D. Andrault et al.
Science: www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/ 1126/science.1250466; Journal reference: Science
-//Page 76 of 93
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Mantle updrafts and mechanisms of oceanic

volcanism
Don L. Anderson and James H. Natland
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/09/05/1410229111
Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Provided by California Institute of Technology
Abstract
Convection in an isolated planet is characterized by narrow downwellings and broad
updraftsconsequences of Archimedes principle, the cooling required by the second law
of thermodynamics, and the effect of compression on material properties. A mature
cooling planet with a conductive low-viscosity core develops a thick insulating surface
boundary layer with a thermal maximum, a subadiabatic interior, and a cooling highly
conductive but thin boundary layer above the core. Parts of the surface layer sink into the
interior, displacing older, colder material, which is entrained by spreading ridges. Magma
characteristics of intraplate volcanoes are derived from within the upper boundary layer.
Upper mantle features revealed by seismic tomography and that are apparently related to
surface volcanoes are intrinsically broad and are not due to unresolved narrow jets. Their
morphology, aspect ratio, inferred ascent rate, and temperature show that they are
passively responding to downward fluxes, as appropriate for a cooling planet that is losing
more heat through its surface than is being provided from its core or from radioactive
heating. Response to doward flux is the inverse of the heat-pipe/mantle-plume mode of
planetary cooling. Shear-driven melt extraction from the surface boundary layer explains
volcanic provinces such as Yellowstone, Hawaii, and Samoa. Passive upwellings from
deeper in the upper mantle feed ridges and near-ridge hotspots, and others interact with
the sheared and metasomatized surface layer. Normal plate tectonic processes are
responsible both for plate boundary and intraplate swells and volcanism.
-//-
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Earth as Source of Surface Water

June 13, 2014
Preface
I have long supported the concept that petroleum is primarily abiotic the result of
geochemical processes and not result of the ancient plant forests. It does not take
multiple PhDs in petroleum or geology to consider the likelihood of this. There are also
plausible explanations of vast deposits of oil having space origins, how these come to so
deep under the crust, has yet to be explained satisfactorily in my opinion.
Recently, some have considered that materials originating out in space contribute
water to the Earths atmosphere. Now there is discussion over the potential volume of
water that is bound into the minerals of the Earths lithosphere.
This earth-origin water can be suddenly released as steam or can be released slowly
enough to form liquid reservoirs deep underground.
Three things I find most interesting from this article:
A: it suggests how the planetary corpus is the most likely source of the oceans;
B: that this water-in-rock can be a factor in the future planetary-wide volcanism. Where
there is a great deal of mineral-bound water that is heated to magma, surface eruptions
tend to the most violent. When water is heated to high temperatures and is kept under
the pressure, the result is the build-up of enormous kinetic potential; and
C: underground reservoirs of water can also be thrust upwards due to crustal fracturing,
thus becomes an additional source of global flooding during major earth earthchanges.
This has been suggested in some tales of the ancient floods and the ancient gods.
I find it more than a little interesting that various translations of some of the earliest
writings describing the ancient global floods refer to water coming from under the earth.
-Alex
-//-
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Vast ocean lays under Earth mantle, may be

wellspring for world's oceans
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/8474/20140613/earth-houses-400-miles-ofocean-who-knew.htm
By Jim Algar, Tech Times | June 13, 2:20 PM
A reservoir of water lying deep under the Earth's surface may contain triple the volume
of every one the world's oceans and may even be the "wellspring" source of them, U.S.
researchers say.
Although not in a liquid form most familiar to all of us -- it is instead bound within rocks
deep in the Earth's mantle -- it likely represents the largest reservoir of water on Earth,
scientists at the University of New Mexico and Northwestern University say.
Writing in the journal Science, they report finding pockets of melted magma 400 miles
underneath the North American continent that are likely signatures that water exists at
those depths.
Scientists have long questioned whether the mantle, the rocky, hot layer between the
Earth's crust and its core, might contain water bound up and trapped within rare
minerals.
The new discovery is evidence water can be transported from the surface of the Earth to
great depth by plate tectonics, the movement of continents and plates over the Earth's
surface.
"Geological processes on the Earth's surface, such as earthquakes or erupting volcanoes,
are an expression of what is going on inside the Earth, out of our sight," says
geophysicist and study co-author Steve Jacobsen at Northwestern. "I think we are finally
seeing evidence for a whole-Earth water cycle, which may help explain the vast amount
of liquid water on the surface of our habitable planet."
Movement and partial melting of rocks in the mantle's transition zone -- a region
between the mantle's lower and upper layers from around 250 to 400 miles deep -could allow water to become tightly bound to the minerals there, the researchers said.
To test if the transition zone could be a possible deep water reservoir, the researchers
used seismic waves recorded during earthquakes to analyze the structure of the mantle
in the zone and to detect if melting is taking place as tectonics drives rocks ever deeper.
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"If we are seeing this melting, then there has to be this water in the transition zone,"
University of New Mexico seismologist Brandon Schmandt says. "Melting is just a
mechanism of getting rid of the water," he says.
If the surface water the Earth possesses today came from such degassing of molten rock,
the researchers say, that's in contrast to the theory held by some scientists that water
came to a young Earth by way of large, icy comets.
It is of course the existence of liquid water on the surface of the Earth that makes our
planet habitable and capable of supporting life, which is why its origin is of such interest
to science.
The latest findings are strong evidence of a process where water has long been cycling
between deep interior reservoirs and the surface through the action of plate tectonics,
the researchers say.
"Scientists have been looking for this missing deep water for decades," Jacobsen says.
And they may just have found it.
-//-
New evidence for oceans of water deep in the

Earth
June 12, 2014
http://phys.org/news/2014-06-evidence-oceans-deep-earth.html#jCp
Researchers from Northwestern University and the University of New Mexico report
evidence for potentially oceans worth of water deep beneath the United States. Though
not in the familiar liquid formthe ingredients for water are bound up in rock deep in
the Earth's mantlethe discovery may represent the planet's largest water reservoir
The presence of liquid water on the surface is what makes our "blue planet" habitable,
and scientists have long been trying to figure out just how much water may be cycling
between Earth's surface and interior reservoirs through plate tectonics.
Northwestern geophysicist Steve Jacobsen and University of New Mexico seismologist
Brandon Schmandt have found deep pockets of magma located about 400 miles beneath
North America, a likely signature of the presence of water at these depths. The discovery
suggests water from the Earth's surface can be driven to such great depths by plate
tectonics, eventually causing partial melting of the rocks found deep in the mantle.
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The findings, to be published June 13 in the journal Science, will aid scientists in
understanding how the Earth formed, what its current composition and inner workings
are and how much water is trapped in mantle rock.
"Geological processes on the Earth's surface, such as earthquakes or erupting volcanoes,
are an expression of what is going on inside the Earth, out of our sight," said Jacobsen, a
co-author of the paper. "I think we are finally seeing evidence for a whole-Earth water
cycle, which may help explain the vast amount of liquid water on the surface of our
habitable planet. Scientists have been looking for this missing deep water for decades."
Scientists have long speculated that water is trapped in a rocky layer of the Earth's
mantle located between the lower mantle and upper mantle, at depths between 250
miles and 410 miles. Jacobsen and Schmandt are the first to provide direct evidence that
there may be water in this area of the mantle, known as the "transition zone," on a
regional scale. The region extends across most of the interior of the United States.
Schmandt, an assistant professor of geophysics at the University of New Mexico, uses
seismic waves from earthquakes to investigate the structure of the deep crust and
mantle. Jacobsen, an associate professor of Earth and planetary sciences at
Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, uses observations in the
laboratory to make predictions about geophysical processes occurring far beyond our
direct observation.
The study combined Jacobsen's lab experiments in which he studies mantle rock under
the simulated high pressures of 400 miles below the Earth's surface with Schmandt's
observations using vast amounts of seismic data from the USArray, a dense network of
more than 2,000 seismometers across the United States.
Jacobsen's and Schmandt's findings converged to produce evidence that melting may
occur about 400 miles deep in the Earth. H2O stored in mantle rocks, such as those
containing the mineral ringwoodite, likely is the key to the process, the researchers said.
Melting of rock at this depth is remarkable because most melting in the mantle occurs
much shallower, in the upper 50 miles," said Schmandt, a co-author of the paper. "If
there is a substantial amount of H2O in the transition zone, then some melting should
take place in areas where there is flow into the lower mantle, and that is consistent with
what we found."
If just one percent of the weight of mantle rock located in the transition zone is H2O,
that would be equivalent to nearly three times the amount of water in our oceans, the
researchers said.
This water is not in a form familiar to usit is not liquid, ice or vapor. This fourth form
is water trapped inside the molecular structure of the minerals in the mantle rock. The
weight of 250 miles of solid rock creates such high pressure, along with temperatures
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above 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, that a water molecule splits to form a hydroxyl radical
(OH), which can be bound into a mineral's crystal structure.
Schmandt and Jacobsen's findings build on a discovery reported in March in the journal
Nature in which scientists discovered a piece of the mineral ringwoodite inside a
diamond brought up from a depth of 400 miles by a volcano in Brazil. That tiny piece of
ringwooditethe only sample in existence from within the Earthcontained a
surprising amount of water bound in solid form in the mineral.
"Whether or not this unique sample is representative of the Earth's interior composition
is not known, however," Jacobsen said. "Now we have found evidence for extensive
melting beneath North America at the same depths corresponding to the dehydration of
ringwoodite, which is exactly what has been happening in my experiments."
For years, Jacobsen has been synthesizing ringwoodite, colored sapphire-like blue, in
his Northwestern lab by reacting the green mineral olivine with water at high-pressure
conditions. (The Earth's upper mantle is rich in olivine.) He found that more than one
percent of the weight of the ringwoodite's crystal structure can consist of waterroughly
the same amount of water as was found in the sample reported in the Nature paper.
"The ringwoodite is like a sponge, soaking up water," Jacobsen said. "There is
something very special about the crystal structure of ringwoodite that allows it to attract
hydrogen and trap water. This mineral can contain a lot of water under conditions of the
deep mantle."
For the study reported in Science, Jacobsen subjected his synthesized ringwoodite to
conditions around 400 miles below the Earth's surface and found it forms small
amounts of partial melt when pushed to these conditions. He detected the melt in
experiments conducted at the Advanced Photon Source of Argonne National Laboratory
and at the National Synchrotron Light Source of Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Jacobsen uses small gem diamonds as hard anvils to compress minerals to deep-Earth
conditions. "Because the diamond windows are transparent, we can look into the highpressure device and watch reactions occurring at conditions of the deep mantle," he
said. "We used intense beams of X-rays, electrons and infrared light to study the
chemical reactions taking place in the diamond cell."
Jacobsen's findings produced the same evidence of partial melt, or magma, that
Schmandt detected beneath North America using seismic waves. Because the deep
mantle is beyond the direct observation of scientists, they use seismic wavessound
waves at different speedsto image the interior of the Earth.
"Seismic data from the USArray are giving us a clearer picture than ever before of the
Earth's internal structure beneath North America," Schmandt said. "The melting we see
appears to be driven by subductionthe downwelling of mantle material from the
surface."
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The melting the researchers have detected is called dehydration melting. Rocks in the
transition zone can hold a lot of H2O, but rocks in the top of the lower mantle can hold
almost none. The water contained within ringwoodite in the transition zone is forced out
when it goes deeper (into the lower mantle) and forms a higher-pressure mineral called
silicate perovskite, which cannot absorb the water. This causes the rock at the boundary
between the transition zone and lower mantle to partially melt.
"When a rock with a lot of H2O moves from the transition zone to the lower mantle it
needs to get rid of the H2O somehow, so it melts a little bit," Schmandt said. "This is
called dehydration melting."
"Once the water is released, much of it may become trapped there in the transition
zone," Jacobsen added.
Just a little bit of melt, about one percent, is detectible with the new array of
seismometers aimed at this region of the mantle because the melt slows the speed of
seismic waves, Schmandt said.
-//-
Is there an ocean beneath our feet?
Jan 27, 2014

http://phys.org/news/2014-01-ocean-beneath-feet.html#inlRlv
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have shown that deep sea fault zones could
transport much larger amounts of water from the Earth's oceans to the upper mantle
than previously thought.
Seismologists at Liverpool have estimated that over the age of the Earth, the Japan
subduction zone alone could transport the equivalent of up to three and a half times the
water of all the Earth's oceans to its mantle.
Water is carried to the mantle by deep sea fault zones which penetrate the oceanic plate
as it bends into the subduction zone. Subduction, where an oceanic tectonic plate is
forced beneath another plate, causes large earthquakes such as the recent Tohoku
earthquake, as well as many earthquakes that occur hundreds of kilometers below the
Earth's surface.
Using seismic modelling techniques the researchers analysed earthquakes which
occurred more than 100 km below the Earth's surface in the Wadati-Benioff zone, a
plane of Earthquakes that occur in the oceanic plate as it sinks deep into the mantle.
Analysis of the seismic waves from these earthquakes shows that they occurred on 1 - 2
km wide fault zones with low seismic velocities. Seismic waves travel slower in these
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fault zones than in the rest of the subducting plate because the sea water that percolated
through the faults reacted with the oceanic rocks to form serpentinite a mineral that
contains water.
Some of the water carried to the mantle by these hydrated fault zones is released as the
tectonic plate heats up. This water causes the mantle material to melt, causing volcanoes
above the subduction zone such as those that form the Pacific 'ring of fire'. Some water
is transported deeper into the mantle, and is stored in the deep Earth.
"It has been known for a long time that subducting plates carry oceanic water to the
mantle," said Tom Garth, a PhD student in the Earthquake Seismology research group
led by Professor Rietbrock. "This water causes melting in the mantle, which leads to arc
releasing some of the water back into the atmosphere. Part of the subducted water
however is carried deeper into the mantle and may be stored there.
"We found that fault zones that form in the deep oceanic trench offshore Northern
Japan persist to depths of up to 150 km. These hydrated fault zones can carry large
amounts of water, suggesting that subduction zones carry much more water from the
ocean down to the mantle than has previously been suggested. This supports the theory
that there are large amounts of water stored deep in the Earth.
Understanding how much water is delivered to the mantle contributes to our knowledge
of how the mantle convects and how it melts. This is important to understanding how
plate tectonics began and how the continental crust was formed.
-//-
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Minimizing Predation and Consumption and Waste
An Interim Life Form?

July 19, 2014
These days, there is very little in the human world to bother paying attention to or
expending ones energy on. However, I continue to keep an eye on certain things from
the sciences as well as indicators from that sphere of insanity one could loosely term
human affairs. And so an interesting science article is included here.
Is this part of the alien terraforming process of Earth? Quite possibly. Has this
phenomena been around a very long time on Earth? Possibly. Both could be true. (Bear
in mind that it is only recently that the technology has been readily available for humans
to conduct such direct observations.)
But this is not why I share this here, rather it is that it is one example of how 3d organic
life forms do not need to consume gross matter in order to physically exist and that it
is one phenomena of many that are the basis for the irrelevancy of biological death due
to entropic decay.
I also refer readers to one of our four concluding essays: The Queen of the Machine.
Given the environments on Earth where these bacteria can be found, they will likely one
example of what would survive the physical cleansing of this planet.
Do more complex life forms evolve from simpler ones? Yes, indeed. Is this the only way
that complex life forms develop with the capacity for sentiency? No it is not. In other
words, evolution through natural mutation and adaptation is not some absolute law.
Beyond the public relations sound bites about medical and industrial applications, there
is a keen interest by transhumanists to examine the possibilities presented here to create
artificial organic life forms and to use their electrical capacity to enhance advanced
computing technology that can house existing consciousness as well as to create organic
artificial structures for other forms of consciousness, including but not limited to
artificial intelligences.
However and more importantly, it is that these critters demonstrate some of the
principles by which electrical energy can be interfaced directly with the subtle energies
of life forms, the subtle energy bodies, and brain-mind processes as well as spiritual
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consciousness. Those bent upon serving the Darkness will use this for their purposes,
those serving the Higher Light will consider how this could be used to serve otherwise.
It is all about motive and intent, given whatever vibratory state consciousness is
operating from.
-Alex
ARTICLE:
Meet the electric life forms that live on pure energy

17:08 16 July 2014 by Catherine Brahic
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25894
Unlike any other life on Earth, these extraordinary bacteria use energy in its purest
form they eat and breathe electrons and they are everywhere
Associated video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j_gJ2teK5E
Stick an electrode in the ground, pump electrons down it, and they will come: living
cells that eat electricity. We have known bacteria to survive on a variety of energy
sources, but none as weird as this. Think of Frankenstein's monster, brought to life
by galvanic energy, except these "electric bacteria" are very real and are popping up
all over the place.
Unlike any other living thing on Earth, electric bacteria use energy in its purest form
naked electricity in the shape of electrons harvested from rocks and metals. We
already knew about two types, Shewanella and Geobacter. Now, biologists are
showing that they can entice many more out of rocks and marine mud by tempting
them with a bit of electrical juice. Experiments growing bacteria on battery
electrodes demonstrate that these novel, mind- boggling forms of life are essentially
eating and excreting electricity.
That should not come as a complete surprise, says Kenneth Nealson at the University
of Southern California, Los Angeles. We know that life, when you boil it right down,
is a flow of electrons: "You eat sugars that have excess electrons, and you breathe in
oxygen that willingly takes them." Our cells break down the sugars, and the electrons
flow through them in a complex set of chemical reactions until they are passed on to
electron-hungry oxygen.
In the process, cells make ATP, a molecule that acts as an energy storage unit for
almost all living things. Moving electrons around is a key part of making ATP. "Life's
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very clever," says Nealson. "It figures out how to suck electrons out of everything we
eat and keep them under control." In most living things, the body packages the
electrons up into molecules that can safely carry them through the cells until they are
dumped on to oxygen.
That's the way we make all our energy and it's the same for every organism on this
planet," says Nealson. "Electrons must flow in order for energy to be gained. This is
why when someone suffocates another person they are dead within minutes. You
have stopped the supply of oxygen, so the electrons can no longer flow."
The discovery of electric bacteria shows that some very basic forms of life can do
away with sugary middlemen and handle the energy in its purest form electrons,
harvested from the surface of minerals. "It is truly foreign, you know," says Nealson.
"In a sense, alien."
Nealson's team is one of a handful that is now growing these bacteria directly on
electrodes, keeping them alive with electricity and nothing else neither sugars nor
any other kind of nutrient. The highly dangerous equivalent in humans, he says,
would be for us to power up by shoving our fingers in a DC electrical socket.
To grow these bacteria, the team collects sediment from the seabed, brings it back to
the lab, and inserts electrodes into it.
First they measure the natural voltage across the sediment, before applying a slightly
different one. A slightly higher voltage offers an excess of electrons; a slightly lower
voltage means the electrode will readily accept electrons from anything willing to
pass them off. Bugs in the sediments can either "eat" electrons from the higher
voltage, or "breathe" electrons on to the lower- voltage electrode, generating a
current. That current is picked up by the researchers as a signal of the type of life they
have captured.
"Basically, the idea is to take sediment, stick electrodes inside and then ask 'OK, who
likes this?'," says Nealson.
Shocking breath
At the Goldschmidt geoscience conference in Sacramento, California, last month,
Shiue-lin Li of Nealson's lab presented results of experiments growing electricity
breathers in sediment collected from Santa Catalina harbour in California. Yamini
Jangir, also from the University of Southern California, presented separate
experiments which grew electricity breathers collected from a well in Death Valley in
the Mojave Desert in California.
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Over at the University of Minnesota in St Paul, Daniel Bond and his colleagues have
published experiments showing that they could grow a type of bacteria that
harvested electrons from an iron electrode (mBio, doi.org/tqg). That research, says
Jangir's supervisor Moh El-Naggar, may be the most convincing example we have so
far of electricity eaters grown on a supply of electrons with no added food.
But Nealson says there is much more to come. His PhD student Annette Rowe has
identified up to eight different kinds of bacteria that consume electricity. Those
results are being submitted for publication.
Nealson is particularly excited that Rowe has found so many types of electric
bacteria, all very different to one another, and none of them anything like
Shewanella or Geobacter. "This is huge. What it means is that there's a whole part of
the microbial world that we don't know about."
Discovering this hidden biosphere is precisely why Jangir and El-Naggar want to
cultivate electric bacteria. "We're using electrodes to mimic their interactions," says
El-Naggar. "Culturing the 'unculturables', if you will." The researchers plan to install
a battery inside a gold mine in South Dakota to see what they can find living down
there.
NASA is also interested in things that live deep underground because such organisms
often survive on very little energy and they may suggest modes of life in other parts of
the solar system.
Electric bacteria could have practical uses here on Earth, however, such as creating
biomachines that do useful things like clean up sewage or contaminated
groundwater while drawing their own power from their surroundings. Nealson calls
them self-powered useful devices, or SPUDs.
Practicality aside, another exciting prospect is to use electric bacteria to probe
fundamental questions about life, such as what is the bare minimum of energy
needed to maintain life.
For that we need the next stage of experiments, says Yuri Gorby, a microbiologist at
the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York: bacteria should be grown not
on a single electrode but between two. These bacteria would effectively eat electrons
from one electrode, use them as a source of energy, and discard them on to the other
electrode.
Gorby believes bacterial cells that both eat and breathe electrons will soon be
discovered. "An electric bacterium grown between two electrodes could maintain
itself virtually forever," says Gorby. "If nothing is going to eat it or destroy it then,
theoretically, we should be able to maintain that organism indefinitely."
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It may also be possible to vary the voltage applied to the electrodes, putting the
energetic squeeze on cells to the point at which they are just doing the absolute
minimum to stay alive. In this state, the cells may not be able to reproduce or grow,
but they would still be able to run repairs on cell machinery. "For them, the work that
energy does would be maintaining life maintaining viability," says Gorby.
How much juice do you need to keep a living electric bacterium going? Answer that
question, and you've answered one of the most fundamental existential questions
there is.
This article appeared in print under the headline "The electricity eaters"
Wire in the mud
Electric bacteria come in all shapes and sizes. A few years ago, biologists discovered
that some produce hair-like filaments that act as wires, ferrying electrons back and
forth between the cells and their wider environment. They dubbed them microbial
nanowires.
Lars Peter Nielsen and his colleagues at Aarhus University in Denmark have found
that tens of thousands of electric bacteria can join together to form daisy chains that
carry electrons over several centimetres a huge distance for a bacterium only 3 or 4
micrometres long. It means that bacteria living in, say, seabed mud where no oxygen
penetrates, can access oxygen dissolved in the seawater simply by holding hands with
their friends.
Such bacteria are showing up everywhere we look, says Nielsen. One way to find out
if you're in the presence of these electron munchers is to put clumps of dirt in a
shallow dish full of water, and gently swirl it. The dirt should fall apart. If it doesn't,
it's likely that cables made of bacteria are holding it together.
Nielsen can spot the glimmer of the cables when he pulls soil apart and holds it up to
sunlight (see video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j_gJ2teK5E ).
Flexible biocables
It's more than just a bit of fun. Early work shows that such cables conduct electricity
about as well as the wires that connect your toaster to the mains. That could open up
interesting research avenues involving flexible, lab-grown biocables.
-//-
Page 89 of 93
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Spark of life revisited thanks to electric bacteria

New Scientist 17 July 2014 Magazine issue 2978.
In 1786, a student of Luigi Galvani's at the University of Bologna, Italy, was startled to
find that a dead frog's leg kicked when he touched a scalpel to its sciatic nerve. Galvani
worked out that the metallic implement had been charged with static electricity, which
he took to be the agent that activated muscles in living animals.
This idea which Galvani termed "animal electricity" went on to become highly
influential. Most famously, Mary Shelley wondered if electricity could be used to
reanimate the dead (though the lightning-bolt scene familiar from the Frankenstein
movie didn't actually feature in Shelley's novel).
We've long known that cells use ions dissolved in water to carry out a huge range of
functions, from animating our brains to powering our bodies. Now we have found
bacteria in the ground that eat electrons from minerals directly, and pass them back out,
without the need for the sugars or oxygen that most life forms use to mediate the
process (see "Meet the electric life forms that live on pure energy").
These bacteria seem to come in many varieties. There might even be some among the
teeming bacterial hordes in your gut. And their discovery means we are on the verge of
finding out just how little electricity fundamental life requires.
Two hundred and twenty-eight years later, we are still feeling the kick of that frog's leg.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Spark of life revisited"
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329781.600-spark-of-life-revisitedthanks-to-electric-bacteria.html#.U8skeHlOVaQ
-//-
Page 90 of 93
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On the Trail of Dark Energy: Physicists Propose

Higgs Boson Portal
Update 8-12-13
Current observations of the universe show it is expanding at an accelerated rate. But

this acceleration cannot be accounted for on the basis of matter alone. Putting energy in
empty space produces a repulsive gravitational force opposing the attractive force
produced by matter, including the dark matter that is inferred to dominate the mass of
essentially all galaxies, but which doesnt interact directly with light and, therefore, can
only be estimated by its gravitational influence.
Because of this phenomenon and because of what is observed in the universe, it is
thought that such dark energy contributes up to 70 percent of the total energy density
in the universe, while observable matter contributes only 2 to 5 percent, with the
remaining 25 percent or so coming from dark matter.
The source of this dark energy and the reason its magnitude matches the inferred
magnitude of the energy in empty space is not currently understood, making it one of
the leading outstanding problems in particle physics today.
Our paper makes progress in one aspect of this problem, said Krauss, a Foundation
Professor in ASUs School of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics, and the director
of the Origins Project at ASU. Now that the Higgs boson has been discovered, it
provides a possible portal to physics at much higher energy scales through very small
possible mixings and couplings to new scalar fields which may operate at these scales.
We demonstrate that the simplest small mixing, related to the ratios of the scale at
which electroweak physics operates, and a possible Grand Unified Scale, produces a
possible contribution to the vacuum energy today of precisely the correct order of
magnitude to account for the observed dark energy, Krauss explained. Our paper
demonstrates that a very small energy scale can at least be naturally generated within
the context of a very simple extension of the standard model of particle physics.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130810063645.htm
-//-
Page 91 of 93
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Casimir Effect
The Casimir effect comes about because the universe at the smallest scales is filled with
virtual particles leaping in and out of existence. When two metal plates are close
together, the gap between them is so small that some of these particles cannot form.
That creates an excess of virtual particles on the other sides of the plates which pushes
them together.
https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/8dc2ed4cfd08
-//The All of Creation is calling all of Itself in to complete its own greater
purposes.
This vastness is home, and each miniscule part of Itself has a
home within this vast home.
-//-
Page 92 of 93
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Image: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141007.html
From the Temple of the Sun to the Temple of the Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Dave Lane
Explanation: What connects the Sun to the Moon? Many answers have been given
throughout history, but in the case of today's featured image, it appears to be the plane
of our Milky Way Galaxy. The 16-image panorama was taken in Capitol Reef National
Park, Utah, USA where two sandstone monoliths -- the Temple of the Moon on the left
and the Temple of the Sun on the right -- rise dramatically from the desert. Each natural
monument stands about 100 meters tall and survives from the Jurassic period 160
million years ago. Even older are many of the stars and nebula that dot the celestial
background, including the Andromeda Galaxy. Tomorrow the Earth will connect the
Sun to the Moon by way of its shadow: a total lunar eclipse will be visible from many
locations around the globe.
-//-
Page 93 of 93

Final Call APPENDIX Science - Part1

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Introductory comments page 3

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Unusual behaviour in Earth's inner core explained page 51

Final Call Science Appendix

Final Call Science Appendix

Existence Itself: Towards the Phenomenology of Massive

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The Cosmos Is Cracked

Credit: Klaus Dolag and equipment

Final Call Science Appendix

The Cosmos Is Cracked

A computer simulation of the universe shows that it may be filled with

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END NOTES & GRAPHICS:

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A NASA press release offers some

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Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster of Galaxies

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Uploaded on Nov 6, 2010

Final Call Science Appendix

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Brown Dwarf? Planet-X? or just another Supernova?

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G1.9+0.3: The Remarkable Remains of a Recent Supernova

Astronomers estimate that a star explodes as a supernova in our Galaxy, on average,

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Two giant planets may cruise unseen beyond Pluto

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Extreme trans-Neptunian objects and the Kozai mechanism:

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Tracking Changes in the Galaxy

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Electromagnetic fields guide light in specific ways.

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A Blue Bridge of Stars between Cluster Galaxies

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Tremblay (ESO) et al.;

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Fermi bubbles defy explanation

This artist's representation shows the Fermi bubbles towering

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Glimpses of a Huge Galaxy Formation

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Dead Galaxies Defy Galactic Formation Theories

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Companion Star to a Supernova?

Final Call Science Appendix

This is an artists impression of supernova 1993J, which exploded in the

Final Call Science Appendix