Journey Through The Galaxies

http://www.encognitive.com
The usual definition of what a galaxy is: 'An island universe', or 'A vast collection of stars' is not wrong, but it is misleading. Because of the vast distances that separate stars even in the most densely packed regions of most galaxies, a better definition is: 'A vast formation of plasma clouds that contain electrical currents and occasional, widely distributed tiny lumped points of matter called nebulae, stars and planets.'

The shape that characterizes most galaxies was first described by Hannes Alfven in 1981.

The shape he proposed is shown here. This diagram is a vertical cross section of a three dimensional figure. The horizontal line at the center of the diagram is actually a circular disk lying in the horizontal plane. It is this disk, when viewed not from the edge as it is here, but more face on, that is the familiar spiral shape picture of a galaxy that we are used to seeing. The parallel vertical lines coming out from the center of the galaxy (along its axis of rotation) represent a strong electrical current in a plasma that sometimes is visible as a "jet".

The two pairs of letters - DL - in the sketch are Double Layers within the jet plasma. Recall that DLs contain strong E-fields and are the source of radio frequency emissions. The two amorphous shapes at the left of the diagram show the resulting typical "double radio source" that is observed in many galaxies. These are due to the presence of DLs. In some galaxies the jet plasma is in the dark current mode; in others it is clearly visible.

http://www.electric-cosmos.org/galaxies.htm

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