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Picture of the day -
June 7, 2006
An Erupting Volcano Photographed From Space
Photo courtesy of
NASA.
Today's picture features an erupting Mt. Cleveland volcano (located on
the Aleutian island of Chuginadak) photographed from space - an unusual
perspective for us earthlings.
On May 23, astronaut Jeffrey N. Williams was gazing down at the planet from his
perch aboard the
International
Space Station when he noticed this plume of smoke and ash bellowing from one
of the snowcapped peaks that lay well over 200 miles below him. He quickly
grabbed a camera and snapped this picture. It's a good thing he acted quickly
too, because the eruption only lasted a couple of hours or so.
Mt. Cleveland is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian island chain.
As the Pacific tectonic plate moves northwest under the North America plate (a
process known as subduction), magma is displaced causing the volcano to erupt.
These eruptions often last for just a very short period of time, and the ISS
just happened to be almost directly overhead during this one. What a great
capture!
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