mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ 
For complete access to all the files of this collection
	see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php 
==========================================================
A Model of the Space Around Our Solar System

Modern astronomers claim that the only forces capable of forming
and driving the galaxies that make up the universe are
gravitational and magnetic fields. In order to judge whether this
or any alternative explanations are reasonable, we have to be able
to visualize the relative sizes of stars and the distances between
them.

In order to do this, we need a scale model that humans can relate
to. It is very difficult, if not impossible, for us to relate
conceptually to how far something is from us when we are told its
distance is, say 14 light years. We know that is a long way - but
HOW LONG?

Burnham's Model

In his "Celestial Handbook", Robert Burnham, Jr. presents a model
that offers us a way to get an intuitive feel for some of these
tremendous distances. The distance from the Sun to Earth is called
an Astronomical Unit (AU); it is approximately 93 million miles.
The model is based on the coincidental fact that the number of
inches in a statute mile is approximately equal to the number of
astronomical units in one light year. So, in our model, we sketch
the orbit of the Earth around the Sun as a circle, one inch in
diameter. That sets the scale of the model. One light year is one
mile in the model.

The Sun is approximately 880,000 thousand miles in diameter. In the
model that is 880,000 / 93,000,000 = 0.009 inches; (Approximately
one one hundredth of an inch in diameter), a very fine pencil point
is needed to place it at the center of the circle.

In our model, Pluto is an invisibly small speck approximately three
and a half feet from the Sun. All the other planets follow almost
circular paths inside of this 3.5 foot orbit. If a person is quite
tall, he or she may just be able to extend their arms far enough to
encompass the orbit of this outer planet. That is the size of our
model of our solar system. We can just about hold it in our arms.

The nearest star to us is (in our model) four and a half MILES
away. So we must visualize two specks of dust, 1/100 inch in
diameter, four and a half miles apart from one another. And this is
in a moderately densly packed arm of our galaxy.

To quote Burnham, "All the stars are, on the average, as far from
each other as the nearest ones are from us. Imagine, then, several
hundred billion stars scattered throughout space, each one another
Sun, each one separated by a distance of several light years
(several miles in our model) from its nearest neighbor. Comprehend,
if you can, the almost terrifying isolation of any one star in
space" because each star is the size of a speck of dust, about
1/100 inch in diameter - and miles from its nearest neighbor.

When viewing a photographic image of a galaxy or globular star
cluster, we must remember that the stars that make up those objects
are not as close together as they look. A bright star will "bloom"
on a photographic plate or CCD chip. Remember the two specks of
dust, miles apart.

The collection of stars in the galaxy in which we live, the Milky
Way, is (even in our model) about one hundred thousand miles in
diameter. This is surrounded by many hundreds of thousand of miles
of empty space, before we get to the next galaxy. And on a larger
scale, we find that galaxies seem to be found in groups - galaxy
clusters.

Because the stars are so small relative to their separation, they
have only a relatively very small gavitational pull on each other.
The entire volume of our galaxy is, however, permeated by plasma -
huge diffuse clouds of ionized particles. These electrically
charged particles are not so relatively very far from each other.
They respond to the extremely strong Maxwell / Lorentz
electromagnetic forces (36 powers of 10 stronger than gravity). It
is becoming clear that galaxies are not held together by gravity,
but, rather, by dynamic electromagnetic forces.

[1]Next Page ---->

[2]Return to the Main Page

[3][hit.asp?sSiteName=dascott2] 

References

1. file://localhost/www/sat/files/electricplasma.htm
2. file://localhost/www/sat/files/index.htm
3. http://www.stats4all.com/asp/login.asp?sSiteName=dascott2