The Sun as a ribbon in the sky

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day yesterday was this lovely image of the Sun's analemma over Scotland during the past year.

You can read more about it at the link.

Also eye-catching is this video, courtesy of Daily Timewaster, showing four-year time-lapse footage of the explosion of star V838 Monocerotis between 2002 and 2006.  Watch it in full-screen mode for maximum impact.

Things like that remind us of how truly insignificant humanity is, on a galactic and universal scale.  We aren't even a speck of dust by comparison.

Peter