Bringing the Universe to Earth

The European Space Agency's has released a timelapse sequence from its Proba-2 mission that shows the recent annular eclipse from space. The Proba-2 spacecraft is a technology demonstrator and contains SWAP - Sun Watcher using APS detectors and imaging processing - to capture an image of the Sun on the timescale 1 minute.

Today sees the launch of One Small Step my podcast on astronomy. You can access the podcast by:

• Clicking on the link above called One Small Step
• Bookmarking podcast.astroviz.com
• Subscribing to the feed astroviz.com/media/podcast/astrovizpodcast.xml

Explaining how the most massive stars are born, deep within their stellar nurseries, is one of the most persistent mysteries in modern astronomy. Now, observations at the Gemini Observatory provide convincing new evidence that these stellar heavyweights may be born in much the same manner as lightweights like our Sun.

The NASA Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is parked for good according to mission scientists despite repeated attempts over the past few months to free it from a sand trap.