Where In The Universe Challenge #107

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/telescope 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 now been posted below.

This is what is called the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula, or IC 1396 in the constellation of Cepheus. Located at a distance of 2,450 light-years, there is an elongated dark globule within the emission nebula, which is a condensation of dense gas that is barely surviving the strong ionizing radiation from a nearby massive star. The globule is being compressed by the surrounding ionized gas.

You can read more about this image on the Spitzer website.

11 Replies to “Where In The Universe Challenge #107”

  1. No, it’s not, you ignoramuses! It’s a Klingon “Bird of Prey” in the process of disengaging its “cloaking device”! 😉

  2. Field center: (RA H:M:S, Dec D:M:S) = (21:36:6.32, +57:27:40.6).
    Surely an infrared image…

  3. This IS the Elephant Trunk Nebula. But it is also the astronomers that named it “brains on drugs” because they had to be on drugs if they think that this looks even a little bit like an elephant trunk.

  4. A celestial being running for her life from an off-camera intergalactic predator.

    Sorry for the tongue-in-cheek post. I honestly have no idea what that picture is, but it does look cool!

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