Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Helioseismology or a Room of Mirrors

Helioseismology is the process of inferring the internal structure and kinematics of the Sun from the propagation of seismic waves. The results are in other words an inference based on a set of data applied to a model of our Sun. Only if both the data-set applied and the model used are correct, will the inferred conclusion also be correct.

The data-set is in this case the observed waves on the surface of the Sun. This can be assumed to be correct. It is visible data. Everyone who cares to look can see these waves by looking at videos of the Sun.

However, the standard model of stars and planets assumes that these objects are solid to the core, and that they are denser deep down than farther out. This assumption was first questioned by Jan Lamprecht in a paper presented by him in 2003. Using sound principles of seismology, he showed that a model in which planets are hollow, would better fit the available seismic data of our planet than a model in which our planet is increasingly dense towards its center.

Recent findings from Jupiter further suggest that planets are not at their densest at their core. Jupiter was found to have a large and diffuse core, substantially less dense than the outer layers.

There are in other words good reasons to be skeptical to the model used to infer the internal composition of the Sun. Where inference suggests multiple layers of standing waves, the reality may well be more that of a room of mirrors. The appearance of multiple layers of recurring patterns may be nothing but an illusion.

If the Sun has an internal surface corresponding to its external surface, as suggested by the capacitor model of planets and stars, then the analogy with a room of mirrors becomes even stronger. Such a hollow sun will not consist of multiple layers, but of a single layer of liquid in which acoustic waves will bounce between the inner and outer surface.

Kaleidoscopes.jpg
Kaleidoscopes

By ﻯναოթ€ռ - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

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