'Traditionally, doubts about an electric sun have focused on a simplistic electrostatic model. It is well known that electrostatic charge could only sustain the Sun’s output for a brief moment.
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Hannes Alfvén pointed out that the Sun and its environment must be understood in terms of electrodynamics and circuit theory.' (Page 31)
'The Sun’s surface is carpeted with complex magnetic fields. Only electricity can produce magnetic fields. Therefore, the Sun must be understood in terms of electric circuits. Where are these circuits? What creates them? And what sustains them?' (Page 28)
'Vast electrical currents stream across interstellar and intergalactic space. These cosmic "power lines" can be detected by the radio "hum" they emit. Where two neighboring intergalactic currents cross paths, they draw matter into a spiral vortex to form a spiral galaxy. The galaxy is lit by electric lights — the stars strung along the current streams. Electric currents in space plasma can provide a new understanding of the Sun.' (Page 29)
'Today, most astronomers believe that the fundamental question about the Sun has been answered: it is a self-consuming thermonuclear furnace.' (Page 11)
'[The] problematic sunspot anomaly is only one of countless anomalies now challenging the traditional concept of the selfpowering thermonuclear sun. The very presence of sunspots is unexpected.' (Page 23)
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The Sun Sampler (pdf) -
Ebooks (
url updates 2010-12-02)
'...Birkeland's ideas in a paper published on the generation of the current from the Solar Wind.'Professor Emeritus of
the Alfvén Laboratory in Sweden, Carl-Gunne Fälthammar wrote (1986): "A reason why Birkeland currents are particularly interesting is that, in the plasma forced to carry them, they cause a number of plasma physical processes to occur (waves, instabilities, fine structure formation). These in turn lead to consequences such as acceleration of charged particles, both positive and negative, and element separation (such as preferential ejection of oxygen ions). Both of these classes of phenomena should have a general astrophysical interest far beyond that of understanding the space environment of our own Earth."
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In 1939, the Swedish Engineer and plasma physicist Hannes Alfvén promoted Birkeland's ideas in a paper published on the generation of the current from the Solar Wind. One of Alfvén's colleagues, Rolf Boström, also used field-aligned currents in a new model of auroral electrojets (1964).
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It wasn't until 1973 that the navy satellite Triad, carrying equipment from Zmuda and James Armstrong, detected the magnetic signatures of two large sheets of electric current. Their papers (1973, 1974) reported "more conclusive evidence" of field-aligned currents, citing Cummings and Dessler but not mentioning Birkeland or Alfven.
It had taken 65 years to confirm Birkeland's original predictions.
In 2007, NASA's THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) project "found evidence of magnetic ropes connecting Earth's upper atmosphere directly to the sun," noting "that solar wind particles flow in along these ropes, providing energy for geomagnetic storms and auroras," thus reconfirming Birkeland's model of solar-terrestrial electrical interaction. NASA also likened the interaction to a "30 kiloVolt battery in space," noting the "flux rope pumps 650,000 Amp current into the Arctic!" '
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Birkeland current