3.1. Two-section spirals by the falling rocket
It is well known that when man-made space objects are launched by rockets, the rockets eventually fall back to Earth. During their descent, the rockets rotate and vent remaining fuel, generating bright spirals in the sky as the fuel burns (or icing which reflects sun light). However, the formation mechanism proposed by the ROTASE model for the galactic spiral arms and the formation mechanisms of these spirals created by falling rockets are remarkably similar. As a rocket falls back to Earth, it rotates and emits remaining fuel (equivalent to X-matter) from the fuel container inside the rocket, which is equivalent to the central black hole in the ROTASE model. The emitted fuel moves with its emission velocity, burning in the air and creating a bright spiral pattern observed in the sky. The amount of emitted fuel gradually decreases due to burning (consumed) as it moves, causing the luminosity of the spiral to gradually decrease along the spiral line from the central starting point to the outer edge. Any change in the fuel emission behavior of the rocket will result in a change in the spiral pattern. Therefore, the formation of spirals by falling rockets can be viewed as a perfect “experimental” demonstration of the ROTASE model, although such “experiment” is completely unintentional.
Figure 3 shows an example of spirals created by a falling SpaceX rocket after a satellite launch on Jun 19, 2022, as well as the galaxies M51 and UGC 6093 for comparison.
The spirals created by the falling rocket are each broken into two sections, but the entire spiral pattern exhibits perfect central symmetry, including the broken points. This perfect central symmetry indicates that the fuel emitted from the rocket was almost equally distributed on both sides. The broken spirals are caused by the sudden and simultaneous change in fuel emission from both sides of the rocket at that time. It is certain that any unequal change in the timing and amount of fuel emission from the two sides of the rocket will not generate a pattern with such perfect central symmetry.
The impressive spiral pattern created by the falling rocket brings to mind the famous M51 galaxy, as shown in
Figure 3B. The galaxy's spiral arms exhibit two distinctly different sections, as indicated by yellow and red lines fitted by the ROTASE model [
2]. These two sections are connected by sharp corners, with one sharp corner appearing damaged. The physical conditions required for the generation of these two different spiral sections must have been significantly different and changed suddenly in cosmic time scale. The most striking characteristic of this spiral pattern is that the winding of the two spiral arms shows nearly perfect central symmetry, with slight damage in the south arm as indicated by the white arrow. This damage is caused by its companion galaxy NGC 5195 located at the top right corner. The tidal interaction between the two galaxies is extremely non-symmetric for M51, with the right side of M51 being much closer to NGC 5195 than the left side. As a result, the right side of M51 experiences a much stronger tidal force, leading to notable changes in the morphology of the spiral arm and damage to the sharp corner as indicated by the white arrow. The sudden change that caused the two very different sections of the spiral arms must have occurred at the galactic center.
While M51 is a typical example of the tidal interaction model [
6], there does not seem to be a reasonable explanation within this model for the two significantly different sections of the spiral arms exhibiting almost perfect central symmetry and joined by sharp corners, other unexpected impact(s) has to be introduced. Could it be possible that another similarly sized galaxy passed by in the past, or that the motion and interaction between the M51-NGC 5195 pair suddenly changed, or that some other sudden impact occurred in the galaxy's history?
For galaxy NGC 6093, as shown in
Figure 3C, the spiral pattern can be nicely fitted by the ROTASE model with three different sections indicated by yellow, red, and blue lines [
2]. The yellow line spiral arms are noticeably more open compared to the red and blue line arms, suggesting that the yellow line arms were formed under significantly different physical conditions. However, unlike M51, the winding of the entire spiral arms of NGC 6093 changes smoothly without sudden bending. The overall morphology of the spiral arms exhibits perfect central symmetry, even though each arm was developed under three distinct physical conditions. Similar to M51, the smooth change in spiral winding for perfect central symmetry indicates that the cause of the change must have occurred at the center of the galaxy.
If the spiral arms with such perfect central symmetry were produced by non-central impacts in the cases of galaxies M51 and NGC 6093, then there would have to be two identical impacts exactly opposite to the galactic center, acting simultaneously. While such collaborative and synchronized interactions may be theoretically possible, they are realistically impossible to occur in such large cosmic scale systems.
The
Figure 4a shows a very amazing image of the spirals by the SpaceX rocket launched on April 17, 2023. The entire spiral structure was developed in two time periods as depicted in
Figure 4b. The rocket started to vent the remaining fuel at the two sides almost at the same time, because the outer end A of red line spiral and the outer end C of yellow line spiral show “roughly” central symmetry. However, the red line spiral ends at B which is much shorter than yellow line spiral which ends at D, this means that the fuel venting for the red line spiral was terminated much earlier than the fuel venting for the yellow line spiral. The “X” marks the end of yellow line spiral if its fuel venting was terminated at the same time as the fuel venting for the red line spiral. The dashed yellow and green sections are the weak residual spirals which are made by one side or both sides weak fuel emission. The red line spiral is more tightly wound than the yellow line spiral indicating that the emission velocity of the red line spiral is less than the yellow line spiral, so the red line spiral and the yellow line spiral do not have central symmetry.
The fuel venting was resumed equally and simultaneously at the two sides of the rocket after halt for a period of time, the central small and bright spiral outlined by the blue lines is created with nice “S” shape and perfect central symmetry, even the bar-like straight section is clearly visible at the center, really resembling the SBb or SBc type galaxy.
For comparison,
Figure 4c shows the image of NGC 4622 galaxy and the
Figure 4d is the spiral fitting by ROTASE model [
12]. The winding of the two spiral arm of this galaxy is different, the red line arm is more tightly wound than the yellow line spiral arm, so the two spiral arms do not have central symmetry due to unequal X-matter emissions. The X-matter emission behavior could be changed irregularly (fluctuatedly) leading to a possible fake impression that the outer pair of spiral arms wind outward clockwise and the a single inner arm winds outward counterclockwise [
15].
3.2. Broken connection of spirals from the ends of the rockets
Figure 5A is the spirals created by the same SpaceX rocket (for
Figure 3A) that was launched on June 19, 2022, as captured by another observer Clare Rehill in Queenstown, South Island of New Zealand. This photo reveals that the rocket has rotated approximately 90° relative to
Figure 3A, resulting in longer and outwardly expanded spirals. However, the inner ends of the spiral arms are disconnected from the ends of the rocket, indicating that the fuel emission ceased due to empty fuel. Nevertheless, the rocket continues to rotate and the spirals continue to expand outwardly, resulting in gaps between the inner ends of the spirals and the ends of the rocket. This observation suggests that the rocket rotated ahead of the spirals.
Logically, it can be predicted that the spirals will resemble the pattern shown in
Figure 5B after further 90° rotation of the rocket, which is similar to the galaxy MCG+00-04-051 (also known as SDSS J011430.80+001928.3) shown in
Figure 5C, as well as the galaxy NGC 4548 [
2]. This predicted pattern would create the false impression that the spirals rotate ahead of the rocket, when in fact, the spirals rotate behind the rocket. For the galaxy MCG+00-04-051, the two arms are disconnected from the bar ends due to the termination of X-matter emission, but one side still has weak X-matter emission which creates a weak but still clearly visible section of the spiral connecting the bar end to one major spiral arm. Such special cases have been extensively analyzed in the references [
2,
7], supporting the validity of the ROTASE model, as demonstrated by the spiral pattern evolution from
Figure 3A to
Figure 5A.
Figure 6 presents a comparison of spirals created by falling rockets with the spiral galaxy NGC 4548.
Figure 6A displays the spiral pattern produced by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket observed over Tulsa, OK on Jan. 31, 2022, exhibiting perfect central symmetry and being disconnected from the rocket.
Figure 6B is the spiral created by a SpaceX rocket observed over Hawaii on Jan 18, 2023, with the image showing the spiral disconnected from the rocket, indicating the cessation of fuel emission.
Figure 6C displays an image of galaxy NGC 4548 with broken connection of the spiral arms from the bar ends. The similarity between
Figure 6B and the image of the galaxy MCG+00-04-051 in
Figure 5C is evident, further supporting the ROTASE model.
3.3. One-side fuel emission of rockets resulting in a single spiral pattern
It is evident from the aforementioned examples that when only one side of a rocket emits fuel, it produces a distinct single spiral pattern.
Figure 7A is an image of such a single spiral pattern created by SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, captured by Lance Godwin on June 5, 2020 in Australia. Similarly,
Figure 7B shows another single spiral pattern produced by Long March 6C rocket over the northwest Pacific on June 8, 2021, captured by an unknown observer. Additionally,
Figure 7C is the well-known galaxy NGC 4618, which exhibits only one spiral arm. This phenomenon of a single-arm galaxy can be explained by the ROTASE model [
2], which is due to the one-side X-matter emission.
The single spiral pattern of the galaxy NGC 4618 is nicely fitted by the ROTASE model [
2], it is equivalent to the half side of the 8-shaped double ring like the galaxy SDSS J015701.50-001644.4 with parameter ρ(θ) change with time following the Gaussian equation.
3.4. Trail effect of spiral arms
Trail effects refer to marks or indicators left behind by past events, typically associated with a specific time interval and gradually diminishing over time, it contains rich information about the history of the events.
Figure 8 illustrates two common examples of trail effects in our everyday lives. A firework show is a classic example of a trail effect, where the burning gunpowder inside the firework propels the head upwards, leaving behind a long, bright trail below the firework head. The brightness of the trail gradually decreases over time, displaying a luminosity gradient following the firework head. Another example is the trail created by a jet boat sailing on the water. The boat's propeller disturbs the water, pushing the boat forward and leaving behind a distinct area of disturbed water that appears different from the rest of the water surface. However, over time, the disturbed water returns to its normal state, and the trail disappears. It is important to note that trails always occur behind the event and not ahead of it.
The presence of trail effects in galaxies is a well-established phenomenon, as depicted in the top row of
Figure 9 which showcases three galaxies. However, it is worth noting that despite its significance which should be included in description of any models for the formation of the spiral arms of galaxies, based on author’s limited knowledge, this phenomenon has not received adequate attention in the past, and the author appears to be addressing it for the first time [
2]. According to the ROTASE model, spiral galaxies should exhibit rear side trail effects. All three galaxies in the top row of
Figure 9 rotate clockwise and display clear rear side trail effects. The front side of the spiral arms has a sharp and well-defined edge, with luminosity decreasing rapidly, while the rear side of the spiral arms exhibits an unclear and blurred edge, with luminosity gradually decreasing slowly from the spiral arm line. The trail effects of galaxies J010650.99-003413.7 (
Figure 9B) and J131730.17+203556.0 (
Figure 9C) are particularly strong and wide. The trail effect of galaxy J101652.52 has been previously studied in detail [
2].
The second row of
Figure 9 showcases three spirals with trail effects of spirals generated by falling rockets.
Figure 9D displays a single spiral with a clear trail effect, while the trail effects of
Figure 9E and
Figure 9F are notably wide and strong, exhibiting perfect central symmetry, with luminosity gradually decreasing from the front spiral lines. Both spirals in
Figure 9E and
Figure 9F were generated by the same falling rocket, but the two photos were taken by different individuals at distinct locations and times.
The image of
Figure 9F is particularly intriguing as it displays a large pair of spirals and a much smaller pair of spirals, both exhibiting perfect central symmetry. This suggests that the rocket emitted fuel equally from two opposite sides, generating the large spirals for a certain period of time, before abruptly halting fuel emission simultaneously from both sides. After a while, fuel emission resumed equally from both sides, producing the smaller spirals. The large spirals eventually fade away, while the smaller spirals grow and replace them. This image further supports the notion that spiral arms with perfect central symmetry must be initiated from the center and cannot be generated by any non-central initiation.