Eruption from space

The Earth never fails to amaze me and it's always a place of beauty and wonder. But every now and then you see something from a different and special perspective.

This photo was taken from the International Space Station of the Sarychev Peak volcano in Japan/Russia.

For the photo geeks among us this was taken with a Nikon D2XS with a 400mm Lens.

Source: The Register

The volcano, which lies in the Kuril Island chain northeast of Japan, blew its top on 12 June, an event captured during a "fortuitous orbit" of the ISS. NASA explains that the picture is of particular interest to vulcanologists because it show "several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption".

These include the main plume, which "appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam" and a clear circle in the "cloud deck" - either caused by "the shockwave from the eruption or from sinking air around the eruption plume"

Earthrise

This image was the first ever photo of what is now iconic when we think of the moon missions - Earthrise. NASA released this image from the Lunar Orbiter 1 mission in 1966 and at the time it was of a fairly low resolution. Using some very clever technology they have regenerated the photo from the original data stored on old magnetic tapes. Click on the image to view it in it's full resolution.

Source NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/moonmars/features/LOIRP/

The Jules Verne burns up on re-entry.

Europe's first ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) cargo ship, The Jules Verne burns up during a planned reentry after completing it's ISS (international space station mission). Quite a beautiful thing to watch I think. Being an automated ship there is no need for crew.
Image from the ESA (European Space Agency)

Video Credit: ESA