Categories: Where In the Universe?

Where In The Universe #40

It’s Wednesday, so that means its time for another “Where In The Universe” challenge to test your visual knowledge of the cosmos. This is number 40! Woo hoo! See if you can 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. Check back sometime on Thursday to find the answer and see how you did.

UPDATE: The answer has now been posted below. No peeking before you make your guess!

This is Mercury, taken by MESSENGER in October 2008 as the spacecraft approached the planet during the mission’s second Mercury flyby. This image shows nightfall on Mercury. It was taken by the Narrow Angle Camera, showing an area about 420 kilometers (260 miles) wide. The spacecraft altitude was 15,900 kilometers (9,900 miles). For more information about this image check out the MESSENGER website.

Thanks for taking part in this week’s WITU Challenge. Check back next week for more!

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004. She is the author of a new book on the Apollo program, "Eight Years to the Moon," which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible. Her first book, "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond.