This appears
to be a natural event and I suspect that we are dealing with a stable rotating
air mass that developed a charge from the surrounding electrified
environment. This effect succeeds in
increasing the stability in the same way that ball lightening is produced. A vortex could induce an electron flow that
forces the mass of air to reshape as a globe.
The surface of the globe develops an electron deficit that induces a
glow.
So far this is
all guess work but it is at least a start toward a theoretical model.
This phenomena
may well occur worldwide and needs to be considered for repeating light events
that are geographically indicated along with my slime mold conjecture.
UFOs
in Norway: Are the 'Hessdalen Lights' Sparks From a Giant Geological Battery?
Posted by Greg at 13:17, 12 May 2014
Are the 'Hessdalen Lights',
strange luminous aerial phenomena (some might even say the word 'UFOs'...)
observed for many years in the Hessdalen Valley of Norway, the equivalent of
sparks created by a natural geological battery? That's one of the theories
suggested in a story in this week's issue of New
Scientist, in which reporter
Caroline Williams spoke to some of the researchers who have returned year after
year to study the anomaly:
Sometimes the lights are as big as cars and
can float around for up to 2 hours. Other times they zip down the valley before
suddenly fading away. Then there are the blue and white flashes that come and
go in the blink of an eye, and daytime sightings that look like metallic objects
in the sky. It is little wonder that when they started appearing up to 20 times
a week in the early 1980s, UFOlogists hailed the Hessdalen valley as a portal
to other worlds and flocked there to celebrate.
But for an international team that has been
studying the mysterious lights since then, the valley harbours something much
more exciting than flying saucers. If they can work out what it is about the
place that powers such incredible light displays, it may not only help explain
mysterious lights in other parts of the world, but also open up the possibility
of storing energy in a radical way. It is a big if, but the team will be
heading back to Hessdalen in the summer to test out a bunch of theoires on what
is generating the lights. Armed with clues from recent lab studies, plus a bank
of new instruments and sensors, they could find that this is the year it all
starts to make sense.
The small group of Italian, Norwegian and
French researchers who have been working together (part-time) on the mystery for
the last 14 years have have noticed a few curious things about the Hessdalen
Lights: while they make no sound and don't seem to be overly hot (no evidence
of burn marks where they contact trees and the ground), they do seem to
sterilise the ground where they land, as there is an absence of soil microbes
at areas of contact. Furthermore, the researchers have found that they
sometimes get strong radar echoes "from unseen entities" even when no
lights are visible.
The combination of all these clues has researchers
thinking that the Hessdalen Lights are a kind of plasma, formed from ionised
gas. When the gas ionises, it forms "a cloud of ions and electrons which
release energy in the form of light when they recombine". This light is
not always in the visible spectrum though, and plasmas can be cool enough to
touch. Even more interesting, plasmas are known to kill bacteria. And a plasma
cloud would also account for the strange daytime sightings of 'metallic
objects' flying through the sky - such objects would in fact be very dense
plasma clouds beginning to emit light.
However, to ionise gas usually requires
temperatures around the 10,000°C mark...something like a lightning strike.
Therein lies the problem: in Hessdalen the lights aren't linked to thunderstorms,
and appear on sunny days and clear nights. This has researchers mystified.
"There must be an energy source somewhere that has the power of a lighting
strike," electrical engineer Bjorn Gitle Hauge says. "What can
electrify and drive a ball of light as big as a car for several hours?"
There are a number of theories. One is that
strong winds whipping through the valley might create static electricity on the
mountains. Another theory is they are powered by radioactivity - specifically,
decay of radon in the atmosphere (though radioactivity tests have failed to
find any evidence for this). One other theory is that the valley acts as a
giant battery, due to its unique geology: it is literally a "valley of two
halves", as the rocks on one side of the river are rich in zinc and iron,
while those on the other side are rich in copper. With the possibility that the
river water between has sulphur in it, researchers have asked whether the
natural geology of the valley make it "a perfect battery".
"To test the idea, Jader Monari (of the
Institute of Radio Astronomy in Medicina, Italy) and Romano Serra (from the
University of Bologna, Italy) set up a pair of rocks from opposite sides of the
valley as electrodes, and dunked them in river sediment to mimic a battery. They
found that a current flowed between the two. "It was possible to light a
lamp," says Monari.
Monari suggests that this unique geology
contributes to the lights in two ways. First, it supplies the bubbles of
ionised gas, formed when sulphurous fumes react with the humid air of the
valley. Second, it forms electromagnetic field lines in the valley that could
move the bubble around. "This electrical field creates a path that could
be the 'main raod' of the lights inside the valley," he says.
The amount of theories has some researchers
worried though. Computer engineer Erling Strand, who began the scientific study
of the lights some three decades ago with 'Project Hessdalen', says he thinks
"the theories we have now are based on too few hard facts. It can damage
the research." Nevertheless, the idea that the phenomena have some basis
in electrical charges is supported by other observeations, such as an observed
connection between the aurora and the Hessdalen lights - observers have found that
they are particularly impressive during auroral displays.
For those that would like to know more about
the Hessdalen Lights, watch the documentary below. And of course, check out the
feature in the latest issue of New Scientist.
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