Where In The Universe Challenge #27

By Nancy Atkinson - October 29, 2008 at 2:40 PM UTC | Observing
where-in-the-universe-27.jpg

Here's the latest image for the "Where In The Universe" challenge. Take a look at the image and try your hand at guessing where in the Universe this image is from. Give yourself extra points (or a cookie) if you can name the spacecraft responsible for the image. The new way we're doing this challenge is that we'll provide the image today, but won't reveal the answer until tomorrow. This gives everyone a chance to mull over the image and provide their answer in the comment section. Check back tomorrow to see how you did!

UPDATE (10/30): The answer has now been posted below. If you haven't made your guess yet, no peeking before you do!!

From now on, the answers will be given in the same post instead of a new one...so you need to come back and check the original to find out the answer!

Are all your guesses in? It's now time to reveal the answer to this week's challenge. This image comes from the STS-115 space shuttle mission in September 2006. Crew members spotted an unidentified object floating away from the shuttle. No one ever really figured out what it was, but it was believed to be debris that floated out of the shuttle's payload bay. The image was taken by astronaut Daniel Burbank onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis (

here's the original

). It caused a little stir because earlier in the day, the crew recorded a

video shot

of another object tumbling away from the shuttle.

How did you do?

Some of you had the right answer -- great job! The other answers? Well, I commend some of you for your creativity! Come back for another WITU Challenge next week!

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