Output list
Conference proceeding
Global recordings of Synchroton light from 56 intense birkeland currents by mankind in antiquity
Published 06/2010
2010 Abstracts IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science, 1 - 1
Synchrotron Light Recordings (SLR's) of the filaments in a high-current, auroral-like extraterrestrial Z-pinch were recorded on all continents during the Neolithic. Mostly carved on granite (petroglyphs), SLR's also provided the templates for megaliths, stupas and temples, large statues and circles from quarried stones weighing up to 200 tons. In this paper we report the discovery of some 5,000 surveyed sites worldwide where the common motif is that of the 56 filaments inflowing (electrons) to the Earth's southern pole. In addition to the rock art, the influence of the pattern is also reflected in sacred iconography from all cultures. From our survey of over 139 countries now including Lhailand, Cambodia, Mongolia, India, Chile, and Easter Island, we find that the artists view was ±1.5° true south, the direction of aurora synchrotron radiation seen above Antarctica.
Journal article
Evidence for an intense solar outburst in prehistory
Published 10/01/2008
Physica scripta, T131, 014048
A past intense solar outburst and its effect on Earth was proposed by Gold (1962 Pontificiae Acad. Sci. Scr. Varia 25 159) who, along with others, based his hypotheses on strong astronomical and geophysical evidence. The discovery that objects from the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age carry patterns associated with high-current Z-pinches, as would result from an intense plasma impinging Earth, provides a possible insight into the origin and meaning of these ancient symbols produced by humans. Peratt (2003 Trans. Plasma Sci. 31 1192) dealt with the comparison of graphical and radiation data from high-current Z-pinches to petroglyphs, geoglyphs and megaliths. Peratt (2007 Trans. Plasma Sci. 35 778) focused primarily, but not exclusively, on petroglyphs of some 84 different morphologies; pictures found in laboratory experiments and carved on rock. These corresponded to mankind's visual observations of ancient aurora as might be produced if the solar wind had increased at times between one and two orders of magnitude, millennia ago (Gold 1962 Pontificiae Acad. Sci. Scr. Varia 25 159). In Peratt (2007 Trans. Plasma Sci. 35 778), the data were given on the source of light and its temporal change from a current-increasing Z-pinch or dense plasma focus aurora. Orientation and field-of-view data are given as surveyed and contributed from 139 countries, from sites and fields containing several millions of these objects, the latest data coming from a 300 km survey along the Orinoco river basin in Venezuela. In this paper, we include additional petroglyph figures derivable from experiment and computer. This information allows a reconstruction of the auroral form presumably associated with extreme geomagnetic storms and shows, based on existent geophysical evidence, relativistic electron flow inward at Earth's south polar axis and hypervelocity proton impacts around the north polar axis.
Conference proceeding
Plasma focus discharge on mercury
Published 06/2008
2008 IEEE 35th International Conference on Plasma Science, 1 - 1
On January 14, 2008 the NASA space probe Messenger came within 200-km of Mercury, photographing a plasma focus discharge penumbra etched into the surface. The pattern recorded is identical to that etched on steel plates in experimental discharges: 112-rays from a discharge channel terminating at and producing a thick torus, here 40 km wide. The rays emanate from the 2-3 GA termination as shown in the bottom figure, the etched lines differing from radial overlay lines only by surface conductivity irregularities. Previously, we reported the observation of a surface-traveling, infrared-radiating, plasma focus penumbra on the Jovian satellite Io whose effluent concentrated into filaments whose terminus was a narrow, well-defined, concentric annulus
Journal article
The ouroboros as an auroral phenomenon
Published 01/01/2008
Journal of folklore research, 46, 1, 3
This article traces the spread and development of the motif of the ouroboros, or circular serpent, and proposes that it originated in descriptions of an intense aurora. The earliest artistic examples of the ouroboros date to [+ or -] 5000-[+ or -] 3000 BCE. The theme proliferated in Egypt and spread to the classical world during the Hellenistic period. In the earliest traditions, emphasis was on the ouroboros' associations with the sun god, the creation of the world, the circular ocean, darkness or underworld thought to surround the earth, and a mythical combat. From late antiquity onwards, the ouroboros acquired more sophisticated meanings, including a link with the ecliptic band or the zodiac, the lunar nodes, the alchemical process, and eternity. In China, the ouroboros largely remained a purely decorative motif, while its most common role in the equatorial regions of America, Africa and Oceania was as a form of the cosmic ocean. In reviewing hypotheses concerning the origin of the motif, we consider the antiquity of the theme, its near-universality, its geographic link with the outermost boundary of the visible world, and aspects of the dragon's prosopography--such as its precious orb, its filamentation, its twin aspect, and its radiant color scheme. It is proposed that the archetype was inspired by a surge of intense auroral phenomena including a plasma instability type known as a diocotron instability, witnessed by human beings towards the end of the Neolithic period.
Journal article
Published 08/01/2007
IEEE transactions on plasma science, 35, 4, 778 - 807
The discovery that objects from the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age carry patterns associated with high-current Z-pinches provides a possible insight into the origin and meaning of these ancient symbols produced by humans. Part I deals with the comparison of graphical and radiation data from high-current Z-pinches to petroglyphs, geoglyphs, and megaliths. Part I focused primarily, but not exclusively, on petroglyphs of some 84 different morphologies: pictures found in laboratory experiments and carved on rock. These corresponded to. mankind's visual observations of ancient aurora as might be produced if the solar wind had increased (T. Gold) at times between one and two orders of magnitude, millennia ago. Part II focuses on the source of light and its temporal change from a current-increasing Z-pinch or dense-plasma-focus aurora. Orientation and field-of-view data are given as surveyed and contributed from 139 countries, from sites and fields containing several millions of these objects. This information allows a reconstruction of the auroral form presumably associated with extreme geomagnetic storms and shows, based on existent geophysical evidence, plasma flow inward at Earth's south polar axis.
Journal article
Special Issue on Space and Cosmic Plasma
Published 08/2007
IEEE transactions on plasma science, 35, 4, 741 - 744
The 12 articles in this special issue focus on space and cosmic plasma. The articles are briefly summarized here.
Conference proceeding
Published 06/2007
2007 IEEE 34th International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS), 931 - 931
Summary form only given. The identification of archaic petroglyphs as artists recordings of MHD Z-pinch instabilities has led to a global survey of their directionality. In all cases, after a survey of fields of several million, the field-of-view (FOV) alignment is axial south. Each unmoved petroglyph is treated as a pixel containing GPS position, survey transit FOV, and angle of inclination. GIS techniques on a large computer allows the reconstruction of a virtual image of the gigaampere aurora. To date, the reconstructed image at the south pole is found to consist of two pinched plasmoids below the auroral horn and Birkeland current filamentation of the outer auroral sheath.