This Week's WITU Challenge
Written by Nancy Atkinson
Here's this week's image for the WITU 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 spacecraft 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 been posted below.
This object is the remains of a Type Ia supernova caused by the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf. It is called SNR 0104-72.3 (SNR 0104 for short), and is in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a small neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way. The image was taken by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The asymmetrical shape of this object is unusual for such a supernova and astronomers think this might be caused by jets in the explosion or clumps of nearby gas.
Find out more about SNR 0104 at the Chandra website.
Check back next week for another WITU challenge!
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November 4th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Hanny's Voorwerp perchance?
November 4th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I think I've seen this on the Star Trek TOS.
November 4th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
It's clearly a nebula doing an impression of Wile E. Coyote scratching the back of his head.
;-P
Or am I alone on this???
KultiVator
November 4th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
To my knowledge, I can see quite clearly, that not anyone will know what this is!
November 4th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
This one is a real challenge!
From the colours, I'd say it's a multi-waveband composite, with the purple x-ray (or, perhaps, Fermi gamma).
If so, then it would have to be a well-named galaxy (NGC something, or MCG, etc; not SDSS or 2dF or …), unless it were a galactic nebula, perhaps a highly unusual SNR (but that's unlikely, given the absence of other 'stars').
November 4th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
My guess would be a galactic nebula, but no clue as to which one. HST? Tough one, Nancy!
November 4th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
This is SNR 0104-72.3: by Chandresharkar. Though we are not supposed to post the web site for the object.
LC
November 4th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
oops! my bad. delete the post anyone?
November 4th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I'll guess its the BCD I Zw 18 taken in the UV band by either SWIFT or GALEX
November 4th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Looks like a Chandra image, but I don't know which one. Yankees 2, Phillies 1 bottom or the 3rd game 6
November 4th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Of course, it could be the Small Magellanic Cloud after Captain Riker and his crew on board the USS Titan finish destroying a large chunk of it without violating the Prime Directive. Space craft in this case would be a subspace telescope.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
SNR 0104-72.3 (Supernova Remnant)
Composite:
X-Ray from Chandra Observatory
+
Infrared from Spitzer
November 5th, 2009 at 12:42 am
I dont what that it..probably a nebulae..but looks like taken with Spitzer or Chandra or both…
November 5th, 2009 at 8:59 am
I also thought it looked somewhat like Hanny's Voorwerp, but it really is the supernova remnant from Chandra.
November 5th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Hey look. They actually found Bender floating in interstellar space. You can let the monks out of the closet now!
November 5th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
HA Ha! trying to catch me out here its unmistakably the ectoplasm fuzzy four shaped nebula, captured by a photon spectral hd x pixlation lens.everybody knows that,
November 5th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
It looks like the crystalline entity to me.