“Where In The Universe Challenge” Returns!

It’s back! After a long hiatus, we’re bringing back our weekly test of your visual knowledge of the cosmos, the Where In The Universe (WITU) Challenge. If you’re new to UT, or in case you’ve forgotten, here’s the drill: take a look at this image and see if you can determine where in the Universe this image depicts. 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!

Also, if you have ideas for future WITU Challenges, send them to Nancy.

UPDATE: The answer has now been posted, below:

This is Gamma Cygni, also known as SADR, and the image was taken by astrophotographer César Cantú. Gamma Cygni is a yellow giant star, about 65,000 times brighter than our Sun, and it shows up as the bright star in the center of the image. The Gamma Cygni nebula consists of the pink cloudy region which can be seen surrounding Gamma Cygni. However, Gamma Cygni is actually not part of this nebula; it is a foreground star located half way between us and the nebula. The image looks deep into the Orion Arm of our the Milky Way Galaxy, and the nebula is more than 3,000 light years from us.

For this image, César used his Takahashi 180ED Epsilon Telescope and FLI 8300 camera, both on an Orion Atlas EQ mount. See a larger version and more info on his website.

Thanks to César for sharing his image of Gamma Cygni! Check back next week for another test of your visual knowledge of the cosmos!