Where In the Universe Challenge #31
Written by Nancy Atkinson
It's Wednesday, so that means its time for another "Where In The Universe" challenge to test your visual knowledge of the cosmos. See if you can name where in the Universe this image is from, and give yourself extra points (or some extra Thanksgiving turkey if you live in the US) if you can name the spacecraft responsible for the image. Make your guess and post a comment if you're brave enough. I'll try to post the answer tomorrow, depending how busy I am with the holiday festivities, so check back sometime Thursday to find the answer and see how you did. Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving!
UPDATE (11/27): The answer has now been posted below. If you haven't made your guess yet, no peeking before you do!!
Well, the guesses posted by readers in the comments ranged from various places around the solar system, but the most frequent answer is the correct one: the Cydonia region on Mars, taken by ESA's Mars Express. Cydonia is located in the Arabia Terra region on Mars, between the southern highlands and the northern plains of Mars. The area has several mounds of various shapes and sizes. Some over-enthusiastic folks looking at the first image of this region from NASA's Viking 1 orbiter (1976) could see "pyramids" and a face. The "Face on Mars" can be seen in the lower right hand corner of the image above.
And here is another view of the "Face" from Mars Express. Looks more like an interesting hill, and not at all like a face.
Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum), MOC Malin Space Science Systems
Take a look at some more images of the region from Mars Express here.
Thanks for participating in this week's WITU Challenge, and be sure to play again next week!
Filed under: Where In the Universe?
Related stories on Universe Today
Comment policy: Be nice and brief. Don't advertise your stuff, or promote your personal theories. We'll delete any comments that break these policies. Click here for more details.
November 26th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Io? No…I want to say Ganymede. No, Io….
Galileo.
I know it will turn out be Mars and MRO.
November 26th, 2008 at 9:35 am
It is Cydonia on Mars with its pyramids resembled structures,…so called face structure is close to it,..Pavel Smutny
November 26th, 2008 at 9:42 am
down right corner – there is face structure
but photos look like quite new,…so maybe was it made by European Mars orbiter ….Mars global Surveyor, or by Viking orbiter,…
Pavel Smutny
November 26th, 2008 at 9:44 am
This is Mars, and the photo was, I believe, taken by ESA's Mars Express.
November 26th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Odd color. Is this a radar image of Venus?
November 26th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Color is odd…
Is it Titan taken by Huygens?
November 26th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Titan – Cassini
November 26th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Mars,
Cydonia Mensae,
Planet's northern hemisphere .
You can see the so called face on Mars in the bottom right.
November 26th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I'm with Jorge… I think this was taken by Mars Express.
November 26th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Hi
I think it's jupiters moon, Io, because of the pattern of the volcanic surface. Io is a colourful moon, and the image reminds astronomers of a pizza.
From Alan in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England.
November 26th, 2008 at 10:48 am
It is colourful but thats just the kick ass cameras in Mars orbit these days.
November 26th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Jorge is correct on the spacecraft.
This was a shut the conspiracy theory people up picture.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:00 am
IT'S A SATELLITE PICTURE OF MARS. LOOKS LIKE THE SO-CALLED "CYDONIA REGION"
November 26th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Nice once, Nancy.
I like how the photo looks all mysterious and yet the clue stares at you in the FACE.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Hi im from venezuela, and thats Cydonia. mmm Not sure bout the spacecraft responsible.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Yep, Mar Cydonia, Mars Express!
November 26th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Io – seen by Galileo
November 26th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Enceladus
Cassini
November 26th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Cydonia via Mars Express
November 26th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
My first thought was it was Mercury…But looking at the posts above, looks like i am wrong…:(
November 26th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I would guess Mars. I know it's not Ganymede, Enceladus, nor other moons because the topography looks to be too sharp. Those two moons don't have topography much like that, and Io especially doesn't because there's no time between resurfacing events.
Titan it could be but not with current craft – we don't have the resolution nor imaging technology to get photos like that.
It's not Moon/Mercury because there aren't craters over every bit of it.
I agree that it's Mars. Could be Cydonia but I don't know enough about that geomorphology. But I can see Hoagland thinking those images show an intelligent civilization.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I think it´s a pretty good guess!
=)
November 26th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
I'm not 100% sure, but looks like Mars, with what appear to be sedimentary structures, some craters and channel-features. As for the spacecraft … perhaps Mars Global Surveyor?
November 26th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Io? Spacecraft would be Galileo then.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
I was thinking Io as well. It looks like there's a lot of sulphur that's been laid down like volcanic ash. So yeah, Io by Galileo is my guess, too.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
looks like the surface of Io,…
November 26th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
That's gotta be a hirise pic
November 26th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
It looked very Mars-Express-like to me, so I went looking and found this:
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/marsexpress/305-230906-3253-6-co1-Cydonia_H.jpg
So it is Cydonia by Mars Express
November 26th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I am probably wrong, but sure looks like a false color picture deep in the ocean somewhere on earth. Really deep.
November 26th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
It looks like a picture looking down on a cauldron of boiling (purifying) gold. But the classic Mars-face at lower right is both exact and confusing. So – is it a gift-or perhaps gilt – wrapped Mars?
November 26th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Wait!
Classic Skull-face plus classic Mars-face plus gold — buried treasure on Mars, right? So it must be water.
November 26th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
My guess is Mercury and spacecraft is Messenger.
November 26th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Definitely Cydonia on Mars. Face is in the bottom right corner, but most of the picture is of the "Town Center" & other nearby pyramid-like structures.
I believe the picture was taken by the EAS Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
November 27th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Dont know what others think about this… Wouldnt it be better to withhold comment publishing until the next day, so everyone's guesses are blind before the answer is revealed. Makes it a bit more fun and challenging in my view.
November 27th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Great Idea NickM.
November 27th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Forgot to mention spacecraft. The color scheme does not look like HiRISE and I don't think CTX generally does that type of color composite, either. It looks much more like ESA's Mars Express, and Ferdinand's link pretty much cinches it.
November 27th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Easy: Mars by Mars Express, Cydonia most likely.
Typical colors of images by the HRSC, and (though not exclusive to that area) typical morphology of "faces" and pyramids…
November 27th, 2008 at 5:52 am
I think this image is from Io moon, but I don't know who is the spacecraft responsible for that picture… I'll say Cassini perhaps???
November 27th, 2008 at 6:15 am
lol couldnt be anything other than Mars or Earth at that resolution, i think ferdinands hit the nail on the head….
November 27th, 2008 at 7:34 am
*not looking at the other anwers*
I don't know, but I guess: Mars, by the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter.
November 27th, 2008 at 8:03 am
It is picture of Mars.Very likely region called
Cydonia, there can be also seen pyramid like structure…
And color is more likely to be from European Mars Express space probe, then NASA Mars
Global Surveyor, but I am not certain on this.This is not MRO, as it is sending much more detailed images.
Reader from small European country, Slovenia
November 27th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Callisto
November 27th, 2008 at 9:27 am
I'll go with Mars, but would not bet the farm on it. The craters look meteoric, not volcanic but the region looks weathered. Must be Mars, huh? Donno what spacecraft.
November 27th, 2008 at 10:45 am
how can this photo be viewed in 3d – i would love to examine it doing a 3d fly-by – richard hoglan of enterprise mission has some good 3d pics of the "face" but i would like to see some images that are real time live and not a doctored photo – happy t-giving day everyone – much blessings to oyu
November 28th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
If you look at the bottom right corner, you'll see the so-called "Face on Mars".
November 28th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Because Mars Express is equipped with a stereo camera which allows scientists to build digital elevation models of everything it photographs (much the same way we obtain 3D information from our two eyes, looking at objects from slightly different perspectives). These elevation models can then be rendered in computers as 3D images or even movies.
November 28th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Why is the color so odd?