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A European satellite launched late last year has returned a new animation of the annular solar eclipse that occurred on Jan. 15.

The images returned by the Proba 2 mission are the first of their kind and part of the first set of data released by the European Space Agency. A similar, more robust sun-observing platform, the Solar and Helisopheric Observatory, is unable to see eclipses.

The images that compose the animation were taken about one minute apart. The eclipse was viewable from Earth for more than 11 minutes.

The new satellite is just beginning its lifespan and was largely conceived as a test of new hardware more than a scientific mission. But the small satellite — a bit smaller than a cubic meter (or about 35 cubic feet) — will also deliver this kind of novel view of the sun.

Via Space.com

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More Information

re - animation by pippo lionni

as part of the caszuidas (contemporary art screen zuidas) in amsterdam, new york
artist pippo lionni will screen his re - animation series, beginning january 2010.

using pictograms familiar to us all from everyday life - such as road signs, toilet markers
and math symbols pippo lionni uses animation to tell a story or make a comment,
entirely without recourse to words.

[Originally published in January, 2006]

Clicking on the image below will take you to a short Quicktime movie. Make sure you have your sound turned up, because I've recorded a few sentences that play along with the movie. Your job is to determine, as quickly as possible, if each sentence is grammatically correct -- while you focus your vision on the animated display.

This demonstration replicates part of an experiment conducted by a group of researchers led by Michael P. Kaschak. The researchers showed similar animations to a group of volunteers and asked them to make similar judgments about spoken language. The question: does our reaction time differ when the animation corresponds to the movement described in language?

spiral dynamics in avatar -01.mov