© 1989 Ken Glasziou
© 1989 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
| How Many Mortals Survive | Vol 10 No 1 Jan 1989 — Index | Is The Milky Way Galaxy The Seventh Superuniverse Of Orvonton? |
A thimbleful of matter from a neutron star would weigh about 100 million tons. For a black hole, the weight would be infinitely greater. It is not surprising that, until recently, astronomers regarded such fanciful objects as the play toys of theoretical physicists. Then, in the mid-1960’s, the discovery of mysterious stellar objects, the pulsars and the quasars, completely changed the picture.
Dark bodies having gravitational pull such that light could not escape were predicted on theoretical grounds about 200 years ago by Michell and also by the French mathematician Laplace. The theory was based on Newton’s corpuscular theory years later, Maxwell’s wave theory of light put an end to such speculation at least until Newton’s description of gravity was replaced by that of Einstein in the early part of this century. Einstein’s theory allowed that light waves could be trapped by gravity, but the concept of Laplace’s dark bodies remained a play toy for theoretical physicists until the discovery of pulsars and quasars using radio-telescopes. These strange objects appeared to have extraordinary large mass relative to their small size, an observation that forced the refocussing of attention upon speculative objects such as neutron stars and Laplace’s dark bodies.
In 1968 the name “dark body”, was replaced with “black hole”. The URANTIA Book naturally uses the old terminology. Current theory has it that the source of novas and supernovas is the gravitational collapse of spent stars. For stars near the mass of our sun, the final result is the formation of a white dwarf with density such that a thimbleful would weigh about 10 tons. For stars more than about 5 times the mass of the sun, the result is a neutron star with density 100 million tons per thimble. During the final blast initiating neutron star formation, vast quantities of tiny uncharged particles, the neutrinos, are released. This does not happen during the formation of white dwarfs. For stars with mass greater than about 25 times our sun, the ultimate fate is contraction to a black hole of such enormous density that, once inside, nothing can escape its gravitational grasp.
The formation of a neutron star is clearly being described in the URANTIA Book (UB 41:7.14) where it is stated that the gravity collapse of massive stars is accompanied by release of vast numbers of tiny uncharged particles. The mother sphere of the Crab nebula is described as being the remnant of one such gravitational collapse. The existence of the tiny uncharged particles, the neutrinos, was not demonstrated until 1956. The URANTIA Book (UB 15:6.11) also tells us that some “dark islands of space” are the remains of dead suns, devoid of light and heat, and that their density is “well nigh unbelievable”. We now know that the neutron star which is the mother sphere of the Crab nebula is a pulsar, and that it gives off visible light as well as pulsed radio waves and X-rays. Hence, the “unbelievably dense dark bodies” of The URANTIA Book that are devoid of light and heat cannot be neutron stars, and must be what we now call black holes.
During the 1960 's it was realised that the Nordstrom-Reissner (1916) solution to Einstein’s equations describing the gravitational field of a static electric charge allowed for a charged black hole, the theory of which was developed by Kerr and Newmann. However, in his book “The Universe” (1985), W. Kaufmann tells us that a black hole is not expected to possess any appreciable electric charge, and that astronomers neglect electric charge when discussing black holes. Kaufmann also tells us that al though a black hole can have a tiny electric charge, it cannot have any magnetic field whatsoever. He states that Einstein’s equations do not permit a north pole / south pole asymmetry around a black hole.
Quite recently, the idea that a black hole could not be highly charged has been reversed (Price and Thorne, 1988). Highly charged black holes with an immense potential difference at the poles of the order of 10 to the 20th volts, have now been invoked to account for the enonnous power output of quasars.
In describing the formation of our solar system, The URANTIA Book (UB 57:5.4) tells of the approach of the Angona system, describing its centre as a “dark giant of space, solid, highly charged, and possessing enormous gravity pull”. This description now aligns with most recent concepts regarding black holes.
There are many references to black holes in The URANTIA Book as these are used by the Power Directors to ensure gravitational stability for various systems, and for the control of energy flow. At the time of receipt of The URANTIA Papers in 1934, if we had asked a panel of astronomers to estimate the chances that black holes and neutron stars really existed, the answer would have been virtually no chance. To the same question in 1955 , the date of publication of The URANTIA Book, the answer would have been at least 100 to one against. In 1988, most astronomers accept the concept that black holes and neutron stars are common place, and even highly charged black holes have gained respectability. Once more, statements that may have been considered incredible and unscientific at the time of receipt of The URANIIA Papers, have now’ come to coincide with up to date scientific opinion.
Ken Glasziou, Maleny, Qld.
The URANTIA Book, pp. UB 41:7.14, UB 15:6.11, UB 57:5.4.
Hoyle and Norliker, “The Physics-Astronomy Frontier” (1980), p. 205. (Freeman & Co.)
W. Kaufmann, “The Universe”. (1985), p.449. (Freeman & Co N.Y.) Price and Thorne, Scientific American (1988) 258(4), 45.
| How Many Mortals Survive | Vol 10 No 1 Jan 1989 — Index | Is The Milky Way Galaxy The Seventh Superuniverse Of Orvonton? |