Where In The Universe #44

By Nancy Atkinson - February 25, 2009 at 4:29 PM UTC | Extragalactic
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This week's WITU Challenge image was sent in by a faithful reader of Universe Today who frequents the comment section as NeoGuru. I'll not give any hints as to where NeoGuru got the image, or what it is, or whether this image can be found anywhere else on the web (for those of you that like to search online for the image and link the answer!). You'll have to wait until tomorrow (Thursday) for the answer to be revealed for this week's Challenge.

UPDATE: The answer has now been posted below -- don't peek before you make your guess!

To see a sight like this, you don't have to look up, but look within...within the Earth, that is. These are glowworms found in the

Waitomo Caves in New Zealand.

The caves and these creatures look amazing! These worms light up to attract insects for food. They glow from bioluminescence which is a chemical reaction between a chemical they produce called luciferin, and air. The chemical reaction gives off light. Way cool!

Thanks to UT reader NeoGuru for sharing the picture and info for this week's WITU Challenge. Check back next week to try your hand at a new Challenge.

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