mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== *Welcome to Wired News.* Skip directly to: Search Box <#search>, Section Navigation <#nav>, Content <#content>. Wired News *Search:* They Sing the Comet Electric Breaking News Breaking News from AP and Reuters By David McCandless David McCandless 2005-08-02 17:50:00.0 Dissident scientists advocating a controversial theory of the universe are having a field day in the wake of NASA's Deep Impact comet collision earlier this month. Scientists promoting the Electric Universe model say their predictions for the comet mission appear to have been more accurate than NASA's. The Electric Universe theorists, collected at Thunderbolts.info , believe that electricity, when factored properly into astrophysics, plays a greater role in the cosmos than the standard gravitational model, which says electrical forces are insignificant on a cosmic scale. Proponents of the Electric Universe model say they can explain many of the bizarre phenomena and mysteries in cosmology, from a swath of anomalies seen in the solar system to unusual surface features on Mars and Jupiter's moon, Titan. The theory can also sweep away the need for theoretical "dark matter" and "dark energy." Comets are a cornerstone of the model, visible proof of the legitimacy of the theory as they traverse eccentric orbits around the sun. According to the model, comets are not inert balls of ice and rocky dust particles aggregated into a "dirty iceball" as standard comet theory holds. Instead, they are solid, asteroid-like rocks, containing little ice. Negatively charged with electricity, their motion through the positively charged solar wind triggers electrical discharges. These, not vaporized ice, produce the characteristic comet glow and tail. Prior to the July 4 impact, the Electric Universe group published a detailed chain of events they expected to see when Deep Impact struck comet Tempel 1 with an 820-pound copper projectile. The prediction said there would be two impact flashes: a small flash as the projectile penetrated the comet's electrified atmosphere, followed by a huge impact flash that would be "unexpectedly energetic." And that's exactly what appeared to happen on July 4, in an impact that astonished NASA investigators. "What you see is something really surprising," said mission co-investigator Peter Schultz. "First, there is a small flash, then there's a delay, then there's a big flash and the whole thing breaks loose." The renegades at Thunderbolts made more predictions, including an expected massive surge in X-ray production, a lack of subsurface water and very high explosion temperatures. However, confirmation or debunking of their predictions awaits detailed data from NASA, which has yet to release the results. The Thunderbolts ragtag team of rebels comprises writers, researchers, electrical engineers and comparative mythologists, led by Australian physicist Wallace Thornhill. Meantime, on the Deep Impact website , NASA scientists theorize that the collision's intense flash was likely caused by tons of fine dust thrown up by the impact and lit by the sun. And the double flashes, some have suggested, were caused by the projectile penetrating two surfaces on the comet: a soft outer layer and a harder deeper nucleus of rock and ice. Indeed, NASA investigators have conceded that Comet Tempel 1 appears to be something of an anomaly that does not conform to the dirty iceball model. The theory now is that the nuclei of different comets may have different compositions, according to Donald Yeomans, a mission scientist on Deep Impact. Whatever the outcome, the self-styled "alternate paradigm theorists" are energized by the evidence from Deep Impact, as well as the shifting theories and unexplained data from previous comet observations. They point to photographs of comets by various probes that have revealed distinctly ice-free rock-like objects, and images of strange bright patches they say are proof of electrical discharges in action. "Why are comet nuclei coal-black as if they have been burnt?" asked *David Talbott*, executive editor of Thunderbolts.info. "Why is there a superabundance of extremely fine dust? "And if comet nuclei are merely melting in the sun's heat, why are they sharply cratered and rocky? They should be smooth like a melting scoop of ice cream." The Electric Universe model is broadly dismissed as pseudoscience by scientists. Indeed, its Wikipedia entry was recently deleted after users successfully argued that it did not constitute a legitimate theory. "It's complete cobblers," said Dr. David Hughes, comet expert and professor of astrophysics at Britain's University of Sheffield. "Absolute balderdash." Crudely put, for astronomical material to be charged electrically, it must be in the form of hot ionized gas, otherwise known as plasma, Hughes said. "The inside of a comet has a typical temperature of minus 100 Celsius," he said. "Electricity on the surface of a comet? Forget about it. It's not a contender." Scientists from NASA's Deep Impact investigation team declined to comment on specific observations made by the Thunderbolts group. Despite the skepticism, Electric Universe theorists are not deterred. "All the things we see around comets fit the electrical model but don't make much sense in terms of icy snowballs sublimating into space," said Thunderbolts' Thornhill . Answers to the surprises of Deep Impact and the credibility of the Electric Universe theory will have to wait until NASA releases X-ray readings, spectroscopic analysis and other detailed data during the $333 million mission. These are expected in a few months. But answers are not guaranteed. So much dust was thrown up by the impact that cameras on board the probe were unable to take pictures of the crater -- a vital piece of evidence for settling the major unanswered question in comet theory: what a comet is actually made of.