ESA is running a six-month crash effort to design an instrument to operate between a pair of satellites flying in formation. One will cast a precisely-controlled shadow across the other to produce a perpetual solar eclipse, revealing parts of the Sun's corona usually hidden in sunlight. ESA's latest StarTiger project is to create a complete working model of such a 'giant external coronagraph'. The effort began on 15 September, with a core team of seven multidisciplinary experts from France, Belgium, Greece and Italy based at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) in France, plus a 20-strong support team. Project hardware is being designed and manufactured, with testing due to begin early next year. Read more