Categories: Where In the Universe?

Where In The Universe Challenge #153

Here’s a new WITU Challenge! 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/telescope 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.

Remember, we’ll take suggestions for future WITU’s — just send Nancy an email

UPDATE: The answer has now been posted below.

This eye-shaped object is the Planetary Nebula NGC 6826, and the image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on Jan. 27, 1996 with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. NGC 6826 is 2,200 light- years away in the constellation Cygnus, and the hot remnant star in the center of the green oval is one of the brightest stars in any planetary nebula. See more about this image on the HubbleSite.

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.