A recent NASA mission to monitor the Aurora Borealis (also known as the Northern Lights), made an interesting discovery. Apparently, these brilliant "sheets" of light can occasionally collide and produce an amazing burst of light. This discovery could not have been made if it weren't for this complex system of cameras, known as the THEMIS mission. The mission consists of 5 cameras in space, as well as 20 cameras located around the arctic region.

While we have a considerable understanding of auroras and how they are created, there are still aspects of the phenomenon that we don't entirely grasp. These sorts of collisions give us significant insight into the physics that governs their existence, with these collisions being one of the greatest mysteries. Scientists believe that these collisions are caused by an atmospheric disturbance above the Earth's atmosphere in a region known as the plasma tail -- where particles of the solar wind are trapped in the Earth's magnetosphere. The more we can monitor these collisions, the more we will understand what is going on outside the Earth's atmosphere.

Image Credit: NASA

This evening my wife and I watched the movie The Astronaut Farmer starring Billy Bob Thornton. This movie has been out on DVD for a couple years now, but I just hadn't ever gotten around to watching it. Now, first we must remember that it is a movie intended for entertainment. So, before any of you start getting any ideas about building yourself a rocket in your barn, I just want to point out that the level of engineering required is beyond the skills of any one person. It's not a matter of intelligence, but rather a matter of time. The man hours that would be needed would require a team of individuals working on a project so complex. Also, the cost would be incredible -- easily in the millions of dollars, even using "recycled" parts as is done in the movie.

Even so, I enjoyed the movie overall. But what I found the most interesting is the way NASA and the FAA are portrayed. Now, I realize that every movie needs a villain, but the idea that NASA and the FAA don't want private citizens stealing their thunder is strange. This comes at a time where NASA is putting up prize money for private citizens and institutions to compete to develop new technology for space travel. And just recently Virgin Galactic revealed the new space craft that will take tourists to space -- a venture that is only possible because of technology and craft that were developed privately. Granted it wasn't some guy in a barn, but they were private citizens nonetheless.

So what about you, have you seen the movie? What did you think?

The U.S. Senate approved a budget of $18.7 billion that the President will now consider. Now, $18.7 billion sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but space exploration is a very expensive undertaking. Whenever numbers like this get thrown around discussions almost invariably ensue about how that money could be better spent. And while I completely agree that feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and fighting the ever increasing war on cancer are very wise uses for our tax dollars, I believe that human exploration is also important.

Now, clearly I am not arguing that a person's life and well being is more important than sending a man to the Moon, or launching a new telescope into space. But, at the same time Man has an intrinsic desire to explore, to learn and to discover the mysteries of the Universe. Science is an important part of our existence here on Earth, and it's that curiosity that makes us what we are.

So what do you think? Is nearly $19 billion dollars a wise use of our tax dollars? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Recently, scientists reported in the journal Nature that they detected the most powerful supernova ever. What makes this supernova unique is that it is the first of a new breed of supernova that prior to this discovery had only existed on paper as a mathematical prediction.

This new type of supernova is known as a Pair-Instability Supernova or PISN, and occurs through a process that is much different from a "normal" supernova. Usually, a massive star (between 8 and 100 times the mass of our Sun) fuses elements up to iron in its core. At this point there is not enough energy available for fusion to continue. It is the pressure due to this fusion that keeps the star from collapsing onto itself due to its immense gravity. Now that the fusion has ceased, the star begins a chain reaction that will cause it to die in a violent explosion.

A PISN however, never makes it to the iron fusion stage of its existence. In order for a star to become a PISN, it must begin with at least 150 times the mass of our Sun (with perhaps as much as 240 times the Sun's mass). While it is still fusing elements like oxygen in its core the immense temperature and pressure cause extremely high energy radiation to be emitted (much greater than that of smaller stars). This radiation is so energetic that it interacts with material in the star and actually transforms into an electron and positron (the anti-particle for an electron) through a process called pair-production.

It doesn't really sound all that different, but the problem is that electrons and positrons do not exert radiation pressure in the way that photons (light) do. Therefore there is not enough force to balance the gravitational pressure, and the star begins to collapse. During the collapse, the temperature and pressure further increase which accelerates the fusion process. The energy is released at such a rate that the star literally blows itself apart in a brilliant explosion that is 100 times greater than the most powerful of normal supernovae. That's enough energy to outshine trillions of stars at once.

Image Credit: NASA