3C 348 (Hercules A)

3C 348 opticalTreating gravity as the dominate force in the Universe and extragalactic redshifts as evidence of cosmic expansion creates a lot of unnecessary headaches for astrophysicists and cosmologists.  A good example of this is an object posted in the gallery, galaxy 3C 348 and its radio loud core Hercules A.   Mainstream scientists calculate that this galaxy’s spectral redshift of 0.155 z (z = (observed wavelength – rest wavelength)/(rest wavelength)) puts it at a distance of over 2 billion light years expanding away from us at almost 43,000 kilometers per second.

At first glance 3C 348 looks like just another ordinary elliptical galaxy and the radio jets of Hercules A appear typical of many other such jets that have been observed.  But by placing them at such a huge cosmological distance scientists have created a monster.   To account for this object’s angular size at such a great distance scientists have Hercules A radiocalculated that the galaxy is over a 1,000 times more massive than the Milky Way Galaxy and the jets streaming from the center of Hercules A are each almost a million light years long.  They have also calculated that the central black hole powering these jets is nearly 1,000 times more massive than the black hole in the center of our galaxy or 3 to 4 billion times the mass of our sun.  This makes it one of the largest black holes known.

How do astrophysicists account for such a colossal object?  The simple answer is they can’t.  An object of this size just cannot be explained using any known physics or even hypothetical processes.  But of course scientists only assume it’s so large because they also assume its redshift is a result of cosmic expansion.  But there are other explanations for extragalactic redshifts, especially in a universe dominated by plasma and the electromagnetic force instead of gravity.

For example, Thomas Smid and Ari Brynjolfsson both have proposed intriguing and testable theories that light is redshifted when it passes through intergalactic plasma.  It has even been suggested that Brynjolfsson’s theory has already been proven in the laboratory.  3C 348 and Hercules AIf true, plasma redshifts would completely change our current understanding of the universe.  To quote Brynjolfsson from his website:  “Plasma redshift explains the solar redshifts, the intrinsic redshifts of stars, quasars, the galactic corona, the cosmological redshifts, the cosmic microwave background, and the X-ray background.  The plasma redshift explains the observed magnitude-redshift relation for supernovae SNe Ia without the big bang, dark matter, or dark energy.  It explains also the observed surface brightness of galaxies.  There is no cosmic time dilation.  The universe is not expanding…..the universe is quasi-static, infinite, and everlasting.  The universe can renew itself forever.”

Images credit:  NASA, ESA, S. Baum and C. O’Dea (RIT), R. Perley and W. Cotton (NRAO/AUI/NSF), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

NOTE:  This object is also posted on the Plasma Pics online image gallery and discussion site.

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