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Pictures of Kuril Islands Volcano From ISS
KindMind writes "The Daily Mail has cool pictures of the Sarychev Peak (Kuril Islands) volcano eruption taken from the ISS back on June 12. From the article: 'A chance recording by astronauts on the International Space Station has captured the moment a volcano explosively erupted, sending massive shockwaves through the atmosphere. Sarychev Peak, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, had been sitting quietly in the Kuril Island chain near Japan for 20 years, when it suddenly sprang to life on June 12. Fortuitously, the International Space Station was flying overhead at the time, and managed to capture this spectacular image of the ash-cloud tearing through the atmosphere, sending clouds scattering in its wake in a perfect circle.'"
Well, from TFA "The extraordinary image was captured by the crew of the International Space Station 220 miles above a remote Russian island in the North Pacific." :)
Not sure if Japan moved, or if Russia is trying to take over territory.
Disclaimer: I did not look for a map to find the location.
Is that a big frozen fish?
Video or it didn't happen.
The original NASA story is here with large desktop background sized images. If you don't visit the weekly top ten site, you really should. Some of those images are breathtaking. Check out the thunderstorm anvil over Africa.
My work here is dung.
It must have been that bean I ate.
In soviet northern territories iss photoes YOU!
Of course NASA will deny everything.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
No! That is my previously secret volcanic lair exploding you insensitive clod.
Almost exactly what an atomic detonation would look like from space, even down to the clouds being pushed aside and the "pileus cloud" that you see above atomic blasts from years ago.
How the fuck is this informative??
Yes! I saw that as well, wasn't mentioned in the summary. This is the first time i've heard of a dark molecular cloud? So it blocks out all light from the stars behind it and somehow there are no stars in-front of it even though it's 500 LY away?
"How they are formed is unknown, but clouds such as this are thought to be a birthing place for new stars."
I thought Nebulae were responsible for that?
http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
Might want to read the FULL story. It's a dust /gas cloud in space....
I also found that interesting, just not particularly anythin to worry about.
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
All I can say is wow, that's cool.
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
Are those the same Kuril Islands that are source of the territorial dispute between Russia and Japan. Maybe after that volcano there is a chance Russia and Japan will finally sign a peace agreement - who needs those islands anyways.
OutputLogic
...how I envy those people.
"False hope is why we'll never run out of natural resources!" - Lewis Black
So how many human civilizations' worth of CO2 and other emissions did that just kick out? ;-)
Could also be a picture of what happens when I try to talk to a woman in a bar.
Equine Mammals Are Considerably Smaller
Now, see, wasn't that easier when you just had the stupid eagle fly you ever there instead of *walking* the whole way?
Yes! I saw that as well, wasn't mentioned in the summary. This is the first time i've heard of a dark molecular cloud? So it blocks out all light from the stars behind it and somehow there are no stars in-front of it even though it's 500 LY away?
500 LY is our local neighborhood, galactically speaking, not even one quarter of the way across the arm of the galaxy's spiral that we are in. The map at the bottom of this page gives an idea of the scale of 500 LY. For comparison, let's look at the Orion nebula (middle "star" in Orion's sword). It is about 1200 LY away, and there aren't very many stars directly between us and it, even though it is about halfway across the arm that we are in.
"How they are formed is unknown, but clouds such as this are thought to be a birthing place for new stars."
I thought Nebulae were responsible for that?
Nebula are typically what's left over after a star dies, and yes can provide the matter for new star formation. But that isn't the only (or even main) mechanism. Anytime you have a large concentration of matter in space, gravity has a tendency to pull it together and form stars.
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
I think the Japanese are be hide this is, it is a test of there gundam at daiba park they assembled at 11 june..
Gundam at North Shiokaze Park Tokyo Daiba 11 june
they say it is a statue but I dont think so I was there and ik looks to real !! ..
they did a test run and tried the weapons on that poor vulcano next target north korea..
http://punynari.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/may-progress-on-rx78-life-sized-gundam/
...Hard at work.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Seriously, how many cow-burps and -farts was this eruption equivalent to, as far as "global warming" is concerned? People seem to seriously engage in breeding cows, that produce less methane. If a volcano can negate the benefits of such research for decades in a single eruption, perhaps there is no point in doing it — better concentrate on eruption-prevention...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
(...)even though in the rest of the pic you can see stars that do appear closer. Now that is weird.
How do you figure?
sending clouds scattering in its wake in a perfect circle
clouds being pushed aside
The circular hole in the stratus cloud deck is pretty cool, but I think it's not caused by the detonation pushing clouds away. Unlike a firecracker or grenade explosion, the amount of gas released is tiny compared to the amount of air heated by the blast. The clear-sky circle isn't caused by air moving outward *away* from the volcano, but rather down, *toward* it.
What goes up must come down. The volcano heats air near it, causing it to rise and forming the ash column at the center. But if that air is rising, air nearby the volcano must be *descending* to compensate. Rising air cools adiabatically, causing water vapor to condense, forming clouds; descending air warms adiabatically, causing water droplets to evaporate, making the clouds vanish.
The first two images in the story are exactly the same, just rotated on a diagonal line going from the lower left corner to the upper right corner. So much for "the eruption continues unabated"!
It's only half a light-year across. Given the distribution of stars near here, odds are it would have no more than one or two stars between here and there, and zero isn't terribly unlikely.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
sending clouds scattering in its wake in a perfect circle
clouds being pushed aside
As I see it, the clouds aren't being "blasted away" by any kind of shock wave or gas flowing outward from the volcano. Unlike a firecracker or grenade, the amount gas released by a big eruption is tiny compared to the amount of air heated by it.
As air is heated by the volcano, it rises. But if air is flowing up away from the volcano, air a further away from the volcano must be sinking to compensate.
You may know how clouds form: as moist air rises, it cools adiabatically and water starts to condense, forming droplets. It works both ways: if air is forced to *sink*, it warms adiabatically, and cloud droplets evaporate.
The clear-sky circle isn't a shock blast, it's a simple case of "what goes up must also come down".
Ha ! Who's going to claim now that the government aren't really monitoring my every move with their high flying satellites, mole machines and robotic cuckoos.
'Just happened to be in the the right place' to film this eruption, pull the other one !
Our studies show that globally, volcanoes on land and under the sea release a total of about 200 million tonnes of CO2 annually
I see, because we have an eruption of this magnitude every year?
After all, in the normal years with only minor eruptions that normally occur we must have exactly the same levels of gas released as large eruptive events.
Right.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The part that amazes me is that I, as a human, simply can't comprehend the sheer volume of matter required to form a star. It has to have enough fuel to capable of fusion for billions of years to really be stable. I can calculate and write down the numbers and do the math... but I truly can't visualize in a non-abstract fashion how much matter that is.
Truly amazing.
So it blocks out all light from the stars behind it and somehow there are no stars in-front of it even though it's 500 LY away?
It doesn't block all the light from the stars behind it. If you look at the edges, you can see a lot of dim, reddish stars that are only somewhat blocked.
As someone else mentioned, it's only about 500 light years away and not very big. The density of stars in this part of the galaxy gives a good probability that there wouldn't be any foreground stars between us and the cloud.
BTW, this is one of the counter-arguments to Olbers' Paradox, which is based on the calculation that if the universe were big enough (or infinite), every line of sight should end at the surface of a star, and the night sky should be as bright as the sun. But astronomers say that most of the mass (at least in nearby galaxies) consists of atomic and molecular clouds which block light from the stars behind them, just as this one does. So it could be true that every straight line from your eye eventually intersects a star, but you can't see it because that line first intersects a cloud like this one.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
It's the only way to be sure.
My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.