Where In The Universe #90

By Nancy Atkinson - February 5, 2010 at 3:59 PM UTC | Cosmology
where-in-the-universe-90.jpg

Oh, heavens! I've been so busy at Kennedy Space Center with pre-launch activities this week for the STS-130 that I totally forgot about this week's Where In The Universe Challenge! Thanks to UT reader William928 for reminding me. Since this week is completely different for me, I decided to make the WITU challenge a little different. You can probably guess what planet this is. But the real challenge is to name to moon. Give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for this picture. Post your guesses in the comments section, and check back later at this same post to find the answer (if I don't forget to post the answer...). To make this challenge fun for everyone, please don't include links or extensive explanations with your answer. Good luck!

And yes, I'm really having an amazing experience covering the preps for shuttle launch!

UPDATE: Answer has been posted below.

The little moon is Io, backdropped by huge Jupiter. The image was taken by the Cassini spacecraft in 2001 while it was on its way to Saturn.

Learn more about the picture here.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com