Where In The Universe Challenge #153

By Nancy Atkinson - October 12, 2011 at 6:46 PM UTC | Extragalactic
where-in-the-universe-153.jpg

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 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