Category: Where In the Universe?

Here’s this week’s Where In The Universe Challenge, and can you believe it — this is the 100th WITU we’ve done! Amazing! But no resting on our laurels, or yours either for that matter (thanks to you, our readers for making the WITU Challenge such as success!) But you know what to do: take a look at this image and see if you can determine where in the universe this image is from; give yourself extra points if you can name the instrument responsible for the image. We’ll provide the image today, but won’t reveal the answer until tomorrow. This gives you a chance to mull over the image and provide your answer/guess in the comment section. Please, no links or extensive explanations of what you think this is — give everyone the chance to guess.

Good Luck!

Update: The answer has now been posted below:

Answers were split down the middle, but the winners are those who said Mars. Yes, this is an image of icy layers at Mars’ north pole, taken by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The HiRISE folks say that the Martian north polar layered deposits are an ice sheet much like the Greenland ice sheet on the Earth. Just as with the ice sheet in Greenland, this Martian ice sheet contains many layers that record variations in the Martian climate. So this is a very interesting image — and place — to study.

Find out more on this image at the HiRISE site.

And check back next week for another WITU challenge!

It’s time once again for another Where In The Universe Challenge. Test your visual knowledge of the cosmos by naming where in the Universe this image was taken and give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for this picture. Post your guesses in the comments section, and check back on later at this same post to find the answer. To make this challenge fun for everyone, please don’t include links or extensive explanations with your answer. Good luck!

Also, I’d like to do something special for next week’s WITU Challenge. It will be number 100!! Send your ideas of dastardly intriguing stumpers to me at this email address.

UPDATE: The answer is now posted below.


Just what the heck is this thing? Answers ranged from Skeletor’s skull, to the back end of a space shuttle to the face on Mars to (my favorite) Wilson! (Tom Hanks’ pal in the movie Cast Away).

This is a gravitationally lensed quasar, PG 1115+080, that is split and distorted by the lensing. It was captured in infrared by the Hubble Space Telescope way back in 1998, and is one of the rare cases where a quasar is almost perfectly lined up with an intervening galaxy.

For more info on this image check out this HubbleSite page.

And check back next week for the big #100 of the WITU challenge!

Ready for another Where In The Universe Challenge? Here’s #98! Take a look and see if you can name where in the Universe this image iimage today, but won’t reveal the answer until tomorrow. This gives you a chance to mull over the image and provide your answer/guess in the comment section. Please, no links or extensive explanations of s from. Give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for the image. We provide the what you think this is — give everyone the chance to guess.

UPDATE: The answer has now been posted below.

This is a close-up view of the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, a moon of Jupiter, obtained on December 20, 1996, by the Solid State Imaging system on board the Galileo spacecraft during its fourth orbit around Jupiter. The view is about 11 kilometers by 16 kilometers (7 miles by 10 miles) and has a resolution of 26 meters (28 yards). The Sun illuminates the scene from the east (right).

For more info see the original image on the CICLOPS website.

Check back next week for another WITU challenge!

Here’s this week’s image for the Where In The Universe Challenge, to test your visual knowledge of the cosmos You know what to do: take a look at this image and see if you can determine where in the universe this image is from; give yourself extra points if you can name the instrument responsible for the image. We’ll provide the image today, but won’t reveal the answer until later. This gives you a chance to mull over the image and provide your answer/guess in the comment section. Please, no links or extensive explanations of what you think this is — give everyone the chance to guess.

UPDATE: Answer has now been posted below.

This image shows a portion of the W5 star-forming region, located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is a composite of infrared data from Spitzer’s infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. It shows the nasty effects of living near a group of massive stars: radiation and winds from the massive stars (white spot in center) are blasting planet-making material away from stars like our sun. The planetary material can be seen as comet-like tails behind three stars near the center of the picture. The tails are pointing away from the massive stellar furnaces that are blowing them outward.

The image was taken in 2008, and is one of the best examples of multiple sun-like stars being stripped of their planet-making dust by massive stars.

Check back next week for another WITU challenge!

It’s time once again for another Where In The Universe Challenge. Test your visual knowledge of the cosmos by naming where in the Universe this image was taken and give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for this picture. Post your guesses in the comments section, and check back on later at this same post to find the answer. This week’s WITU challenge was submitted by UT reader Brad Jones — thanks Brad! To make this challenge fun for everyone, please don’t include links or extensive explanations with your answer. Good luck!

UPDATE: The answer has now been posted below.

This is an image of two galaxies — M81 and M82, and was taken from the ground by Markus Schopfer using an 8-inch SC-Telescope and a Digital SLR. See a larger version here.

M81 is a grand design spiral galaxy and pairs up with an irregular galaxy M82, sometimes called the “exploding Cigar.” They are actually separated by 150,000 light years. This galaxy group is the nearest galaxy group to our own local group of galaxies.

You can read a great post about M81 and M82 by Tammy Plotner here.

Ready for another Where In The Universe Challenge? Here’s #95! Take a look and see if you can name where in the Universe this image is from. Give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for the image. We provide the image today, but won’t reveal the answer until tomorrow. This gives you a chance to mull over the image and provide your answer/guess in the comment section. Please, no links or extensive explanations of what you think this is — give everyone the chance to guess.

UPDATE: The answer is now posted below.

Mars or Earth? — that is the question! This is an image of Meteor Crater, also known as the Barringer Meteorite Crater, located near Winslow, Arizona, USA, planet Earth. This High Resolution Camera image, taken by ESA’s Proba satellite was taken on January 23, 2004. It shows the 1.186 km diameter crater is approximately 180 metres deep and is surrounded by a rim of smashed and jumbled boulders, some as big as houses. The shadow-casting structure visible on the north side of the Crater is the Visitor’s Center. Click here for a larger and uncropped version of the image.

Check back soon for another WITU challenge!

Here’s another Where In The Universe Challenge, to test your visual knowledge of the cosmos. This week’s image was submitted by UT reader Jason Major, who is hoping this one will pose a challenge for everyone. But you know what to do: take a look at this image and see if you can determine where in the universe this image is from; give yourself extra points if you can name the instrument responsible for the image. We’ll provide the image today, but won’t reveal the answer until tomorrow. This gives you a chance to mull over the image and provide your answer/guess in the comment section. Please, no links or extensive explanations of what you think this is — give everyone the chance to guess.

Good Luck!

UPDATE: The answer is now below.

This is Rembrandt Crater on Mercury as seen by the MESSENGER spacecraft. Rembrandt is a relatively young impact basin, and forming about 3.9 billion years ago, is younger than any other known impact region on the planet. Images from MESSENGER show pristine terrain on the outer portion of the crater, as well as unusual tectonic fault features, not found in any other big crater. You can read more about it in our previous article about “New Mysteries Unveiled on Mercury.”

Thanks once again to Jason Major for submitting this week’s image. Check back next week for another WITU challenge!

Its time for another “Where In The Universe” challenge, and this one is actually on time this week! The WITU challenge will test your visual knowledge of the cosmos, and this week’s image was submitted by UT reader Rob Bowman. Rob is hoping to stump everyone this week, but try to guess/name where in the Universe this image is from, and give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for the image. Make your guess and post a comment, but please no links or extension explanations to the answer. Check back sometime on Thursday to find the answer and see how you did. Good luck!

UPDATE: The answer is now posted below.

This is a composite image of part of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, which shows the distribution of ice and minerals for the structure named Tyre. The image was created with data from the Galileo spacecraft’s Solid State Imaging (SSI) camera and the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS). Tyre, the circular feature, is 140 kilometers in diameter (about the size of the island of Hawaii) and is thought to be the site where an asteroid or comet impacted Europa’s ice crust.

Lots of correct answers! Great job everyone, and thanks again to Rob Bowman for submitting the image. Check back next week for another WITU challenge.

Here’s this week’s image for the Where In The Universe Challenge, to test your visual knowledge of the cosmos (late again — sorry!) You know what to do: take a look at this image and see if you can determine where in the universe this image is from; give yourself extra points if you can name the instrument responsible for the image. We’ll provide the image today, but won’t reveal the answer until tomorrow. This gives you a chance to mull over the image and provide your answer/guess in the comment section. Please, no links or extensive explanations of what you think this is — give everyone the chance to guess.

UPDATE: The answer has now been posted below.

This is the Stingray Nebula, as seen by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 back in 1996.

In this image, the bright central star is in the middle of the green ring of gas. Its companion star is diagonally above it at 10 o’clock. A spur of gas (green) is forming a faint bridge to the companion star due to gravitational attraction.

The nebula is as large as 130 solar systems, but, at its distance of 18,000 light-years, it appears only as big as a dime viewed a mile away. The Stingray is located in the direction of the southern constellation Ara (the Altar constellation).

It’s time once again for another Where In The Universe Challenge. Test your visual knowledge of the cosmos by naming where in the Universe this image was taken and give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for this picture. Post your guesses in the comments section, and check back on later at this same post to find the answer. To make this challenge fun for everyone, please don’t include links or extensive explanations with your answer. Good luck!

UPDATE: The answer has been posted below:

This is a planetary nebula with some issues, as it is bipolar. M2-9 is a striking example of a ‘butterfly’ nebula. Another more revealing name might be the ‘Twin Jet Nebula,’ as it looks like a pair of exhaust steams from jet engines. The image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and you can get more info on it here from the ESA Hubble website.

Check back next week for another WITU challenge!