Southern Lights in Tasmania

Amazing Aurora Australis in Tasmania, Australia courtesy: SpaceWeather.com

BBC Answers the Question: "What is Reality?" [VIDEO]

    Modern science has given us the ability to take a drastically new look at the nature of reality, and BBC Horizon has provided "What is Reality?" to masterfully answer the burning questions of what, where, when, how, and why.  From holograms, multiple dimensions, parallel universes, String Theory, and Physics, to the mind, Psychology, and beyond, amazing is a total understatement here.  This is the entire episode presented commercial-free through YouTube and BBC Horizon.  Enjoy!

Halley's Comet & the eta Aquarids Meteor Shower May 6th

        Halley's Comet is making an appearance in our sky on May 6 in the form of the eta Aquarids meteor shower as icy pieces of its dusty tail pass through our atmosphere.  Halley's Comet has a long, irregular orbit though, and will not be back around Earth until 2061, making this a very special meteor shower.  

Diagram of orbits in our solar system.  Notice that Halley's Comet has
a long, elliptical orbit in the opposite direction than the planets.

        ScienceCast: Meteors from Halley's Comet, from NASA Science, brilliantly and brielfy explains the eta Aquarids and Halley's Comet in under three minutes.  The fast-moving meteors will radiate from the constellation Aquarius at 148,000mph as Earth passes through Halley's dust on the morning of May 6, 2011.  With the near perfect timing of the New Moon on May 3rd, this should be quite a display.  Although the best place to see this shower is in the southern hemisphere and close to the equator where 40 meteors per minute can be seen, we are expected to see about 10 in the United States - with optimal viewing from 3:30am until sunrise. 

Halley's Comet.  Unfortunately, we will not get to see it like this on May 6th.

Source: NASA Science

Aurora Australis & the Great Morning Planet Show of May 2011

The Great Morning Planet Show of May 2011 - the Moon, Mars,
Jupiter, Venus and Mercury over Magnetic Island in east Australia

     While the news of Osama bin Laden's death and its whirlwind ensue around the planet, there are fascinating things happening in the sky above us.  For the rest of May, we can see the Great Morning Planet Show of May 2011 when four planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, align in the eastern, early morning sky.         
        
        There is also a minor solar storm with a strong solar wind hitting Earth's magnetic field; causing not only Aurora Borealis, but Aurora Australis - Southern Lights.  The solar wind is flowing from a coronal hole in the Sun's magnetic field, and reaching Earth's at over 600 kilometers per second.  As a result, a spectacular display of light shows illuminated the skies over those lucky enough to be near the poles and even reached into Wisconsin and Michigan in the US.  

Aurora Australis - the Southern Lights. Photo taken at the South Pole
 where temperature was -85F and the Sun doesn't rise for six months.

Earth is inside a solar wind stream
flowing from the indicated coronal
 hole. Credit: SDO/AIA.
(May 2, 2011 SpaceWeather.com)

Source: SpaceWeather

Amazing, Cancerous Mother Earth

Earth, our home and mother

       With all of its beautifully diverse, complex inhabitants, processes, formations, patterns, changes, and the like, we can say that the Earth is a living, breathing being just like us - humans.  Earth is like a collective mother for humans; without her, there would undoubtedly be no us.  Considering the biological standpoint, we are like the tiny living molecules in harmonious co-existence within, and of Earth - just like the atoms and molecules that co-exist to make an amazingly intricate and complex human being.  Intrinsically in peaceful harmony, at times some molecules may become cancerous - abducting, eroding, and destroying others around them, thus weakening the host.  The human race has become like a cancer running malignantly through its host - Earth.

        With all of its harmony and awesome power, the closest physical thing to all-knowing and all-powerful for humans is the Earth.  Consciously or not, we have to trust every day that the earth will protect us and not incinerate, flood or decimate us - we have faith and believe in the harmonies of Earth & Space holding true.  If the Earth wasn't exactly as she is, no human would be alive, and she can put us on a one-way path to extinction in an instant if she chooses to.  Earth is a fundamental prerequisite for human existence, and we must have faith in her not using her awesome power to extinct us all.  Is this not a fundamental idea of theology?  Why do we neglect the closest thing we have to a physical god, collective mother, and vehicle for creation(i.e. procreation)?

        Maybe like a battered mother, the Earth is tired of being used, abused, and grossly neglected by her children, and no longer has the strength to fight for the survival of an offspring so unbelievably unwilling of acknowledgment and assistance.  Maybe our mother is losing faith in us.  Would we not help our birth mothers in need?

        Perhaps like a conflicted mother wanting desperately to preserve her children, she can send hints and messages, but if unanswered, she must separate herself from them to ensure her own survival.  Just as do humans, maybe the Earth must undergo her own form of radiation treatment to rid herself of the cancerous, disease of polluting, depleting, and otherwise using and abusing co-inhabitants, turned parasites, deemed humans to save herself.

A solar flare erupts from our sun in this image taken
by NASA 's SOHO satellite on Monday, July 1, 2002

       
        Earth can lower her electromagnetic field, used to shield and protect us like a nurturing mother, and expose us to the catastrophic radiation emitted by the Sun, blow off enough volcanic ash and debris to block out the Sun and freeze us out, [insert Earth-caused apocalyptic scenario of your choice], and cleanse herself of humans at any moment. Just like she was here long before Jesus, Buddha, and Muhammad had the pleasure of admiring her beauty, the Earth will go on for far longer than humans can bicker about which religion is right or political party is to control the next term.  In any case, without dutiful regard for our home and mother Earth, none of that makes a difference.

Rendering of Earth's electromagnetic field under tremendous pressure
from the Sun's radiation 

      Why do we continue to spew filth, pollute, wither, and destroy the Earth, draining her resources and fundamentals for life?  Similarly, is this not akin to the way we treat our own?  Humans use, abuse, lie, cheat, beg, steal, and kill each other for personal gain, why can't Earth?  Do we not bleed the poor and help the rich?  Do we not understand that for our life to flourish, so must the Earth, and that for humans to flourish, so must poor, minority, [insert oppressed group of your choice] humans?

        Change and motion is the way of the universe.  It seems the time has come for change in paradox or peril.  History shows us a cyclical rise and dramatic decline of civilization since dinosaurs. Maybe we have evolved technologically, economically, psychologically, scientifically, [insert advancement of your choice], and can consider ourselves an advanced civilization, but it appears that all the gadgets, books, computers, geniuses, bells, and whistles are meaningless without a blessing from the seemingly simple rock we call home.  Maybe neglecting the increasingly delicate piece that holds this entire gazillion-piece puzzle together, like a table or floor(just extensions of Earth really), isn't such a good idea.  Happy Mother's Day everyone, and please try to remember our collective, harmonious mother as well; Happy belated Earth Day!