I recently stumbled across a French astronomy magazine in an airport shop which I wrote about last week. The magazine referred to Herschel Gould Belt observations and conclusions that most stars are formed in filaments. I was curious, so I did a bit more digging. One very recent scientific paper particularly caught my attention; “From Filamentary Networks to Dense Cores in Molecular Clouds: Toward a New Paradigm for Star Formation”. The paper is based on Herschel Space Observatory high resolution infrared data of the Gould Belt. You can download a copy of the article here, just ignore the theory and enjoy the data. The highlights:
- Most stars are formed in filaments of gas/dust
- These filaments appear to have a universal width, regardless of density
- Stars form on denser regions of these filaments
Stars forming as a result of magnetic pinches in galactic scale Birkeland currents is nothing new. The big news here is that mainstream astrophysicists are forced by the data to abandon their outdated models of star formation, which is a good thing.
Wal Thornhill from the Electric Universe already discussed these observations in several presentations. Below is a recent presentation (2013) where he talks about star birth around the 3 minute mark, Herschel diagrams begin around 3:45.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgdJcghkri4]
Back to the article Toward a New Paradigm for Star Formation, here are some very interesting images …
Electric Circuitry in the Polaris Flare Cloud. Image taken form the scientific paper From Filamentary Networks to Dense Cores in Molecular Clouds: Toward a New Paradigm for Star Formation (André et al, 2013). The paper incorrectly describes the filaments as products of turbulence.
Large Scale Birkeland Current’s Magnetic Field, Taurus’ Tail. mage was taken form a scientific paper entitled “From Filamentary Networks to Dense Cores in Molecular Clouds:
Toward a New Paradigm for Star Formation” (André et al, 2013). It shows the magnetic field observed around a galactic scale Birkeland current in a star forming region/filament of Taurus.
Here is an image taken from another presentation summarizing Herschel findings (Highlights from the Herschel Gould Belt survey: Toward a Unified Picture for Star Formation on GMC scales?) , clearly an electric current as seen from the helical magnetic field it creates:
Direct evidence of a large scale Birkeland current, as can be seen by the helical magnetic fields such currents create.
I came across some interesting videos presenting Herschel Gould Belt findings.
In this first video, the presenter provides many fun facts and shares fascinating data about the so-called “new paradigm” of star formation. He also shares his theory (apparently ad-hoc) on “space hoppers” as the seeds of star formation. He does not seem aware or knowledgeable of plasma behaviour in space or else he would instantly realize those filaments are Birkeland currents. Nevertheless, he’s an excellent presenter. Ignore the theory and enjoy the data being presented.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZffsWRC6kG8]
Here’s second video from another astrophysicist presenting Herschel findings. Again, there’s great info and data, just ignore any theoretical explanations or interpretations of the findings.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrFfudgp8Oo]
Recent Comments