DeepEarth is a new, open-source project that integrates Microsoft Virtual Earth with the Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 platform, making it easy to add an interactive, Silverlight 2.0 map to your application. Get all of the code and a full description of the features from the DeepEarth site on CodePlex:

DeepEarth is a mapping control powered by the combination of Microsoft's Silverlight 2.0 platform and the DeepZoom (MuliScaleImage) control. At its core, it builds on these innovative technologies to provide an architecture for bringing together layers for services, data providers, and your own custom mapping elements together into an impressive user experience. Also featured are in depth examples of how you can leverage Virtual Earth Web Services to take advantage of advanced GIS service functionality. This is what you need to get an interactive, native Silverlight 2.0, map into your application today.

You can view a working demo on the DeepEarth Soul Solutions website.

To try it out, download the code from Codeplex. As noted on the Virtual Earth blog, you will need at least a developer's account to get going, so make sure to sign up for a Virtual Earth Developers Account. And, to get rid of the "Staging" watermark, you'll need a license, which you can request by sending an email to the Virtual Earth Licensing Team. Enjoy!