Environment

Volcano Could Create Dramatic Sunsets

posted: 28 June 2009 12:33 pm ET

: Sarychev Peak on Matua Island is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Island chain, northeast of Japan. Astronauts took this photo of an eruption on June 12. The plume appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam. The vigorously rising plume gives the steam a bubble-like appearance; the surrounding atmosphere has been shoved up by the shock wave of the eruption. Credit: NASA/ISS/Earth Observatory

When Russia's Sarychev Peak erupted June 12, astronauts on the International Space Station got a fantastic view of the plume as it created a shock wave in the atmosphere.

Now people in Europe could get delightful sunsets over the next 24 hours, courtesy the sulfur dioxide and other material spewed into the atmosphere and moving around the globe, according to Spaceweather.com.

Check out this cool photo of a volcanic sunset taken from the window of an airplane last week.

See an animation of the plume, here, created with data from a sensor onboard Europe's MetOp-A satellite.

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