VEGA - Exploring with the Sony A1

Looking into the plasma and revealing its hidden activity

Aug 14, 2022

Thanks to the support of Charles, a Sony A1 and appropriate lens has allowed us to delve into the inside of the plasma in Henk Jurrien’s VEGA experiment.

The camera allows us to vary the F-stop, ASA, shutter speed, focal point and more, allowing us unique insight into the shape of the internal structure of the plasma as it interacts with the various components of the cathode and anode in differing pressures of various gases and electrical stimulation regimes.

In the first video, I discuss with Henk, what we see in images captured at a wide array of settings in an active run.

The camera images are far superior to the way they are recorded to make the video above and we will be looking at them later in more detail. Below is an example where use of the high dynamic range embedded in one of the Sony RAW images, reveals details not visible to the eye or even most cameras.

Is this the Yin-Yang ‘8’ of a falico soliton, something else - or did we just catch a jumping cathode spot within the 1/100th of a second exposure?

It gives the possibility to capture high quality video at 120 fps as shown below (even 240fps).

The next video shows that the process is initiated by events at the cathode very conclusively and also one can see how instantaneously the 'fireballs' are made.

VEGA - Jumps and Squiggles

VEGA experiment recording with realtime discussion.

There is so much to learn from this video - see what you can find in this and the other videos using the YouTube controls and let me know the timestamps and your thoughts in the comments below - happy hunting.