STATIC ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
TO A DUST COVERED CRT
PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO CRATER FORMATION
AND OTHER FEATURES
ON PLANETARY BODIES
Z. Dahlen Parker
Electric discharge patterns, seen in a thin layer of dust on a CRT, have a striking resemblance to many features seen on moons and asteroids. This low tech experiment with electrostatics has revealed a reasonable alternative explanation to how some planetary surface features were formed.
Link to CRT crater chain
Many features on moons and asteroids offer challanges to believability when explained through the mechanism of
an impact.
The anomalies are numerous but the most obvious challenge to that 'theory' comes from the existance of chains of craters that appear to overlap each other.
A unique and highly structured set of circumstances
would be required to form such features.
If an impact explanation was to be used several problems arise.
To get a chain of craters you�d need a chain of objects and they would need to impact
in tight formation nearly on top of one another.
This was not observed with comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
Are there any instances to support a tight chain of impactors?
Ganymede Crater chain Image
Link to TPOD article and image
How can this feature be explained by an impact?
If objects strike at an angle, other than a right angle, they would make
non-symmetrical circles. Also, a sequence of impacts would destroy the clarity of the
previously formed features.
Some have offered an explanation which involves extremely tight timing between to object's supposed disintigration and an encounter with another body. This is highly speculative and ignores a far more plausable explanation, electric discharge between differently charged bodies.
Considering the appearance of crater chains, there are too many problems not answerable
by the impact theory for it to be valid.
The JPL image from Ganymede, one of Jupiter�s moons, is a perfect example to compare to the CRT discharge-chains.
Another mechanism must be considered to explain the formation of crater chains.
Two possible causes will be suggested here and I will let the pictures make the case of either an electric discharge by an object making a glancing pass of the planet's surface or electric discharge from another source. The other source involves a perspective of much larger considerations that do not directly apply to the CRT experiments but represent another form of Electrical discharge machining. See the work of Wal Thornhill to understand its application to comets, moons and other bodies.
There is a wealth of evidence which suggests either of these two options to be feasible.
The patterns give us details to draw upon for comparison and if we let the patterns
speak to our reasoning we may see through a fog created by an absence of eye witnesses
and an abundance of speculation about impact events.
One detail to take note of in the CRT images is that a whole circle is often at one end
and then a series of semi-circles are adjacent.
The first point of discharge can be
recognized.
This pattern occurs with little variance!