Space Game! Where in the Solar System is Destination Five? And Thou Art…

Well done Archimedes, Bird of the Wind, and all you Space Bloggers who put 1 and 27 together and figured out that the hazy blue ice giant with the funny name and the twenty-seven moons named after theatrical characters – breathe – is indeed the 7th planet from the sun…

Uranus!

pronounced YOO-ray-nus, or if you prefer, You’re a nuss!

Uranus is so far from home that we don’t know much about it–yet. But we can thank our old friend NASA for what we do know. Boy is she a technological wonder! First, she flew Voyager 2 out here in 1986. It was the first, and still the only, spacecraft ever to encounter Uranus. Turns out New Horizon’s flightpath to Pluto did not come close enough to fly by Uranus, which explains why we didn’t see it on day 3. Fortunately, though, Voyager 2 took some great pictures and discovered new moons and rings.

Then NASA pointed her ‘eye in space’, the famous orbiting Hubble telescope toward Uranus.  Hubble’s oh-so-sensitive cameras continue to reveal new features, like even more moons and rings and three layers of atmosphere!

Thanks NASA for these gorgeous shots. They’ll make great postcards home!

. Image Credit: NASA/JPL                                                            Image Credit: NASA/JPL/STScI

For more incredible pictures of Uranus and her moons, check out the JPL photo journal and the NASA picture album.  Then rest up for our next mission to Destination Six! Lift off is Monday at dawn, Earth time.

Newcomers, want to join the hunt?  Check in now at Space Game Rules!