Here’s what a volcanic eruption looks like from space

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Riauw5UTnW8]

Here’s Russia’s Sarychev Peak volcano erupting in June 2009, as seen from the International Space Station. ISS astronauts shot the video and also took this high-definition photograph (click to embiggen):

The image and video are useful to geologists because they detail many features of the early stages of volcanic eruption, and useful to the rest of us because they are awesome.