Electricity and Consilience. Part 7

See Part 1 here.
See Part 6 here.

Plasma physicists argue that stars are formed by an electromagnetic "pinch" effect on dispersed gas and dust, created by the magnetic force of plasma filaments. These filaments, such as one recently found in the Orion constellation, are part of huge electric currents flowing inside and between galaxies and are able to concentrate matter far more effectively than gravity. Researchers at the Green Bank Radio Telescope in West Virginia liken the structure to a giant magnetic slinky wrapped around a finger-like plasma cloud.

Orion Molecular Cloud, with magnetic field

In the standard model, star formation is caused by a slow gravitational process where particles are collected until enough material is balled together to collapse into a nuclear star. The slow progress of this coalescing doesn't fit with observed data, however, which shows that these events can happen incredibly fast, further proof for the plasma model. Additionally, the high temperature of gathering particles would actually prevent the necessary collapse as described by gravitational models.

Plasma physicists also theorize that stars may not be giant thermonuclear engines, as commonly held. When stars are examined from an electromagnetic perspective, they appear to be powered by the same galactic currents that formed them, behaving as electrodes in an enormous"cosmic circuit." The matter inside stars becomes positively charged as electrons drift toward the surface. The resulting internal electrostatic forces prevent stars from gravitational collapse and can cause them to "give birth", forming companion stars and gas giant planets, often marked by huge explosions, called nova.

Quasar Jets, NASA.

This hypothesis offers an intriguing explanation as to why stars commonly have partners and why most of the giant planets so far detected closely orbit their parent star. Many plasma physicists believe that these forces cause the birth
of dense, rocky planets - such as Earth - by similar means: the electrical expulsion of parts of positively-charged cores of dwarf stars and gas giants.