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Where In The Universe #35

By Nancy Atkinson - December 24, 2008 07:31 AM UTC | Observing

Are you ready for another Where In The Universe Challenge? 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. As usual, we'll provide the image today, but won't reveal the answer until tomorrow. This gives you a chance to mull over the image, drink some eggnog, and provide your answer/guess in the comment section — if you dare! Check back tomorrow on this same post to see how you did. Good luck and enjoy the holidays!

UPDATE (12/25): The answer has now been posted below. If you haven't made your guess yet, no peeking before you do!!

In this holiday edition of Where In The Universe, newborn stars, hidden behind thick dust in visible light, are revealed in infrared in this image of a part of the Christmas Tree Cluster from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Two instruments created this image, Spitzer's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) and Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) instruments.

Astronomers nicknamed this the "Snowflake Cluster," the stars appear to have formed in regularly spaced intervals along linear structures in a configuration that resembles the pattern of a snowflake.

More info on this image.

Best wishes for the merriest of whatever holiday you may celebrate.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com