Where In The Universe Challenge #133

Here’s this week’s image for the Where In The Universe Challenge, to test your visual knowledge of the cosmos. You know what to do: 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 instrument responsible for the image. We’ll provide the image today, but won’t reveal the answer until later this week. 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.

UPDATE: The answer has now been posted below.

I’m really disappointed no one thought this was a picture of the Moon, as seen by the Apollo astronauts. That’s not what it is, but that was my thought when I first saw the image. This actually is an image I took of a lava field on the Big Island of Hawaii when I visited there recently. I was flying in a helicopter looking for lava flows and (see my article about flying over Kilauea Volcano) and this lava field does look as barren as the Moon, and I thought the window markings on the helicopter looked reminiscent of the Apollo Moon Lander windows.

Anyway, the great thing about the Big Island is that it is like a microcosm of the planet, with 10 of the world’s 14 or 15 identified climate zones contained in a 2 hour helicopter tour. Just a short flight from this lava field is a lush rainforest — and in the opposite direction is a sandy ocean beach. The affect of water on the rough lava is amazing.