| 
			  
			  
			
			
  
			by Stephen SmithFebruary 28, 2011
 
			from 
			
			Thunderbolts Website 
			
			Saturn's electrically charged atmosphere has erupted in spectacular 
			fashion.
 
 Sungrazers are comets that pass close to the Sun in their highly 
			elliptical orbits. They tend to reaffirm 
			
			the Electric Universe 
			opinion about comets: If comets are the result of electrical events 
			that took place early in the life of the Solar System, then their 
			several "anomalous" behaviors can be easily explained.
 
 Some comet anomalies include 
			Hale-Bopp's ion tail and coma when it 
			was far past Jupiter's orbit, the catastrophic explosion of
			
			Comet 
			Linear when it was over 100 million kilometers from the Sun, the 
			desert-like, cratered appearance of Comets 
			
			Borrelly and 
			
			Tempel 1 
			(contrary to the "dirty snowball hypothesis), and 
			
			Shoemaker-Levy 9's 
			broken pieces refusing to expel any water vapor.
 
 The Sun's radial e-field is a dynamic structure, changing in 
			strength and size depending on the corresponding strength of 
			electric currents that flow into it.
 
			  
			
			 
			Saturn's powerful 
			"dragon storm" now circles the planet.  
			Credit: 
			NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute 
			  
			For that reason, it is in a 
			state of constant flux, requiring just a small trigger for it to 
			explosively discharge with solar flares or coronal mass ejections 
			(CME).
 Comet NEAT (below image) initiated a CME eruption that appeared to impact the 
			comet.
 
			  
			
			 
			  
			Several other (below video 1) sungrazers have been associated with violent 
			flares.  
			  
			When comet 96P/Machholz circled the Sun its intense charge 
			differential caused a gigantic CME (below video 2) to blast out from the Sun for 
			millions of kilometers. 
			  
			  
			Video 1 
			    
			  
			  
			Video 2 
			  
			  
			  
			The electrical connection between comets and 
			the Sun seems certain. 
			  
			If that is the case, then the electrical 
			connection between the Sun and its entire family of planets and 
			moons is certain. Changes in electrical activity affect the 
			environments of every member in that family.
 Saturn could be thought of as a solar system in its own right, with 
			a family of 31 moons. It possesses a Langmuir charge sheath (plasma-sphere) 
			that isolates it from the Sun's own charge sheath that, in turn, is 
			isolating it from the charged interstellar medium.
 
 Many things about Saturn have changed in the 31 years since the two 
			Voyager spacecraft passed by the giant gas planet. Saturn's 
			magnetosphere grew by more than a million kilometers and then 
			contracted, only to begin expanding again. The spokes in Saturn's B 
			ring disappeared and then reappeared. The equatorial thunderstorm 
			(known as the Dragon Storm) that raged continuously broke up, moved 
			toward the poles, and then erupted again.
 
 The most likely explanation for the storms on Saturn is that they 
			are equivalent to sunspots. As the Sun changes its behavior over the 
			course of a 22 year cycle, the electrical output that connects it 
			with its family of planets varies.
 
 If Saturn's Great White Spots, Dragon Storm, and ring spokes are 
			driven by the same galactic 
			
			Birkeland currents that drive the Sun, 
			they should get stronger and closer to the equator as the sunspot 
			cycle oscillates. It appears that that is just what has happened 
			over the past three decades.
 
 Every so often Saturn breaks out with 
			
			a great white spot three times 
			larger than Earth.
 
			  
			Traditional models of Saturn cannot explain such 
			a periodic outburst, but an intense lightning discharge deep in the 
			atmosphere could cause vertical jets similar to 
			
			the sprites in 
			Earth's upper atmosphere.
 Its connection to the current flow in the Solar System can explain 
			the effects that Cassini and other science packages have discovered 
			on and around Saturn. Perhaps, like the Sun, there are other factors 
			that link explosive discharges with electrical connectivity.
 
 Since Saturn's environment is highly charged, could objects 
			traveling through it's vicinity initiate substantial electrical 
			events like sungrazers do?
 
			  
			Presuming Saturn to be a highly charged 
			object in a state of dynamic equilibrium, could a Saturn-grazer 
			start some of the long-lasting lightning-like disturbances there?
 
			  |