Where In The Universe Challenge #103

Here’s this week’s Where In The Universe Challenge. 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 instrument 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 now been posted below.

This is an infrared image from Hubble of Uranus, taken way back in 1998. The rings really stand out in infrared, so we can see that the planet is surrounded by its four major rings — and if you look closely — by 10 of its 17 known satellites.

Also visible are clouds — about 20 in all, nearly as many clouds on Uranus as the previous total in the history of modern observations. The orange-colored clouds near the prominent bright band circle the planet at more than 300 mph (500 km/h). One of the clouds on the right-hand side is brighter than any other cloud ever seen on Uranus, at least back in 1998.

Credit for this image goes to Erich Karkoschka from the University of Arizona and, of course, NASA. See more about this image at the HubbleSite.

Check back later this week for another WITU challenge!