Spot Europa

41 thoughts on “Spot Europa”

1. Only one has a proper blast pattern from an impact.

   1. By which I do NOT mean the first photo 😉

2. Leftmost one in the second row?

   1. That’s my pick.

      1. Yep, mine too!

   2. Yes.

      The trick is to remember that frying pans, or tea pots, orbiting the Sun are very rare.

      1. I just pull out my Bertrand 2000 Ultra-Mega Telescope. I can spot any teapot in the galaxy.

      2. Prove it!

   3. My pick too!

   4. Me too.

3. George Gobel: center left.

   1. Lonesome George? Must mean Paul Lynde is in center square. Which one is Clif Arquette? Which one Wally Cox?

4. I think it’s a game of tic tac toe. Three across the top – all blue.

5. Its either the middle one in the left column, or the middle one in the bottom row. Both look about the right coloration…but then I found that if I follow the link you can get a higher res of the image…I agree, leftmost in the second row.

6. I got it instantly… but then again, I took “Planets, Moons & Rings” as an elective around 1986. A fascinating class, taken when we knew only a tiny fraction of what we now know. The cracked channels in the icy surface of Europa were known from the Voyager flybys of 1979. I remember being so excited by the textbook, which was among the first to have giant glossy photos of the Jovian satellites and Saturnian ring structures in them.

   1. First glance. If they had played games with lighting or color it may have made it more difficult, but after seeing gazillions (uh oh) of images of solar system bodies, and Europa specifically, it really stands out compared to the frying pan images.

   2. Yes, that.

      /@

7. If I were bullish, I’d go for centre left. Besides you can clearly see the Nightjar

8. Where did they come up with all those nasty-looking frying pans?

9. Center row, left (or, left column, middle).

10. Leftmost column, in the middle.

11. The best comment was from Stu Fleming: “All these whorls are yours, except #4. Attempt no pancakes there.”

    It’s a reference to… Well, I’m sure everybody here knows.

    1. +1

       1. Carp… I should have said: +2010

          /@

    2. Excellent!

12. I don’t see any handles on the frying pans. Or on the moon either.

13. Spock: “It is a class 12 cooking surface. Sensors show it is made of aluminium and an irregular coating of carbon.”

    Kirk: “But what about the opposite side? All of our probes directed to that side keep sliding off.”

    Spock: “Fascinating. The far side of the object seems to be coated in a substance made by humans centuries ago. It was known as…(raises eyebrow) Teflon.”

    1. Spock: All the pans seem to have a slightly curved cooking surface.

       Kirk: So…warp 8?

       Spock: F you Kirk.

    2. You forgot the part where Kirk tries to sleep with the frying pan.

       1. What do you mean “tries”? He’s Kirk after all.

    3. From Star Trek: The Search for Spock’s Wok.

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14. 2nd row left.

15. Middle left.

    1. I chose that right away without ever reading anyone else’s guesses. I’ll be rather pleased with myself if I’m correct. :p

16. Sub

17. When y’all done having your fun, could please return my frypans? 🙂

    1. Awwww…. 🙁

18. Ah, but how many of you spotted the biology hidden in this tw**t?

    1. Are you talking grapes? (Given your handle!)

       /@

       1. There are grapes? I’m confused.

          No, what I meant is that an astronomy post seems a bit out of place on a biology website. Yet in fact, it’s a stealth biology post: Europa is especially interesting specifically because its oceans may harbor life. As for the frying pans, the biology connection should be obvious. (Perhaps the point was obvious to most readers anyway, but nobody else had commented on it.)

          1. There are Jupiter grapes.

             And many of us do know why “ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.”

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