Earlier this week, NASA released an amazing photograph of an eruption of Sarychev Peak Volcano. Here are some of the recent photographs taken by astronauts aboard the ISS over the past few months.
High above Russia's Kuril Islands, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) look down on erupting Sarychev Peak Volcano (plume in center, left) on Matua Island and its brownish ash mixing with cloud cover downwind on June 12, 2009. Part of the ISS, a Soyuz module, is visible in the foreground.
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A closer look at Sarychev Peak Volcano reveals more detail, the circular hole in the clouds around the island, the smooth condensation cloud wrapping much of the ash plume.
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Closer still to Sarychev Peak Volcano, pyroclastic flows can be seen tumbling down its slope (lighter clouds, bottom). Also visible is a closer view of the condensation cloud or "pileus", formed by the rapidly rising plume.
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A view of the Pacific coast around Puerto Atico, Peru
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Ahile above the Pacific Ocean on may 11, 2009, ISS astronauts shot this photo of a waning gibbous moon, slightly distorted, seen through the Earth's atmosphere.
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A view of the Atlantic Ocean alongside Bahia Oso Marino and Punta Buque, Argentina.
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Lago Nansen, amongst the Andes Mountains in Argentina.
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The sun glints off Lake Poopó in Bolivia. Lake Poopó is a 1,000 sq km saline lake lying 3,686 meters above sea level.
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Smoke blows eastward from a mountain slope in Canada's Rocky Mountains near Banff and Canmore.
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Circular Contrails are visible, east of Lake Nipigon, Canada.
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Deep Convective Clouds, seen from above, over the Atlantic Ocean.
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A few clouds in the sky above Arizona and its Barringer Impact Crater, at right.
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Washington State's Puget Sound, featuring Vashon Island, Seattle and Tacoma, viewed on May 29th, 2009.
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Evaporation ponds in Pampa Del Tamarugal, Chile.
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Betsiboka River delta, near Majunga, Madagascar.
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Roads and circular fields in the desert in Egypt.
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A ship plies the waves in the Bay of Biscay
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A port near Bandar Abbas, Iran.
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Ice floes clumping in Russia's Sea of Okhotsk
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The Seine River, near Rouen, France.
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The limb of the Earth, seen from the ISS when it was high above Arkansas on May 21,2009.
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Tidal channels near Iran's Qeshm Island.
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Beaches and farrmland north of Douarnenez, France.
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Svyatoy Point in Russia's Lake Baikal.
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Charles De Gaulle Airport, in the suburbs of Paris, France.
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Part of the Amistad Reservoir on the Rio Grande in Texas.
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Ullung Island, off the coast of South Korea.
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A strange circular area of thinned ice in the southern end of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia. While the origin of the circles is still unknown, the peculiar pattern suggests convection (upwelling) in the lake's water column.
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The Chicago shorleine along Lake Michigan.
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Japan's Mount Fuji.
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Lava flows along Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano (356 km)
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Ships enter part of the Suez Canal in Egypt.
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Contributed by Alex from LA
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