Oh, heavens! I’ve been so busy at Kennedy Space Center with pre-launch activities this week for the STS-130 that I totally forgot about this week’s Where In The Universe Challenge! Thanks to UT reader William928 for reminding me. Since this week is completely different for me, I decided to make the WITU challenge a little different. You can probably guess what planet this is. But the real challenge is to name to moon. Give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for this picture. Post your guesses in the comments section, and check back later at this same post to find the answer (if I don’t forget to post the answer…). To make this challenge fun for everyone, please don’t include links or extensive explanations with your answer. Good luck!
And yes, I’m really having an amazing experience covering the preps for shuttle launch!
UPDATE: Answer has been posted below.
The little moon is Io, backdropped by huge Jupiter. The image was taken by the Cassini spacecraft in 2001 while it was on its way to Saturn. Learn more about the picture here.
What he said. ^^^
I’m going to go with Europa, Cassini.
Io from Cassini.
Clearly Io.
I stand corrected. Definitely Io, from Cassini.
IO – Cassini
Io in front of Jupiter, spacecraft Cassini.
Ganymede in front of Jupiter
jupiter with io, galileo satellite
mmm, im going with: europa, jupiters moon, from cassini?
I want my extra points please!! XD
Io from Galileo
So today’s meta question was “Where In The Universe is “Where In The Universe”?” And the answer was “lost at Kennedy Space Center”?
Okay, pulling the meta off of that, I’ll go with the planet as ‘obviously’ Jupiter, which makes it likely to be imaged by Galileo.
The moon is iffy, but the markings definitely reminds me of Ganymede.
i go for io 😉 and for galileo as the photographer
Without a doubt, it’s Io.
I think it’s from Cassini.
The planet is clearly Jupiter and not Saturn. Saturn does not have the swirling pattern in the upper clouds Jupiter has. The orange coloration of the moon suggests Io, and we are looking down on it, as it is the closest Galilean moon to Jupiter. The spacecraft is probably Galileo, which RIP is reduced to dust inside Jupiter.
LC
Europa with it’s blue hue orbiting Jupiter.
Spacecraft: Galileo
HL
I say Europa 2 ;p
Io by Cassini. Ain’t that a volcano in its upper left quadrent?
It looks like europa from galileo
Impressive image from cassini during Jupiter flyby on 2001-01-01
Google image search on “io moon” shows this photo few times on first page!
Its the Moon Io…nice flyby.
I go with Io, with Jupiter in the background.
It’s definitely Io, but it can’t be the Cassini probe. I think that shot was taken by the Hubble telescope.
Definitely this is a fantastic image of IO in transit captured by Cassini probe in January, 1st, 2001.
wrong guess its io taken by cassini…
Wonderful! Nancy, i hope you have some idea just how many people sit drooling in front of their computers waiting for the next issue of Where In The Universe.
It ‘s Io with Jupiter in the background taken by Galileo spacecraft
Hm. I thought Io was kind of green and brightish with spots… This looked more like Europa to me?
Io in front of Jupiter by, I’m gonna say, Cassini?
I was going to say Ganymede but then Ganymede is rocky and cratered as is Callisto they are both a long way out and this looks fairly close to Jupiter. It’s not yellowy enough for IO, Amalthea is just a rock so I guess it must be Europa even though it doesn’t look that icy either. The quality suggests more recent than 2000 so I’m going to guess at the New Horizons spacecraft in 2007
Io… Cassini
Got to agree, that’s Io waving g’bye to Cassini, who’s taking one last picture out the back door. The shadows give a bit of hint to who sits where, if I read it right.
This is Io, Jupiters tortured moon. I’ll stick my neck out and say it was taken by New Horizons on its way to Pluto…
This image was also used on the cover of “The Algebraist” by Iain M Banks.