APOD: Tungurahua Erupts (2012 Apr 02)

[APOD Robot]

Tungurahua Erupts

Explanation: Volcano Tungurahua sometimes erupts spectacularly. Pictured above, molten rock so hot it glows visibly pours down the sides of the 5,000-meter high Tungurahua, while a cloud of dark ash is seen being ejected toward the left. Wispy white clouds flow around the lava-lit peak, while a star-lit sky shines in the distance. The above image was captured in 2006 as ash fell around the adventurous photographer. Located in Ecuador, Tungurahua has become active roughly every 90 years since for the last 1,300 years.

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[Beyond]

Talk about good timing! A night later and his camera would have been worth a lot less than the 50% depreciation the ash did to it.

[Guest]

12-year-old boy asks, "What does that have to do with space?" I said, "Good question, I'll ask."

Robert, Jerry? Answers?

[geckzilla]

12-year-old boy asks, "What does that have to do with space?" I said, "Good question, I'll ask."

Robert, Jerry? Answers?

They do this about once a month just to create a ruckus and give us a job here at the Asterisk explaining the reasoning for it. Just kidding, but this does happen about once a month. It's just to help branch out interests in things other than astronomy.

[Ann]

Enceladus, moon of Saturn.
Photo: Cassini/NASA.

I guess it might be a way of saying, "As on Earth, so in heaven".








Ann

[MSP1]

When a terrestrial feature gets in the way of an astronomical view, is it not possible to remove said terrestrial feature using Photoshop? Alternatively, as in this case, the photographer should really have noticed that there was a volcano in the way and chosen a different position from which to take the photograph!

[owlice]

You mean there is no point in understanding Earth, because surely such information would be useless in trying to understand other planets and processes in the universe, right?? Or because Earth isn't really part of all that is there, part of the universe??

[neufer]

12-year-old boy asks, "What does that have to do with space?" I said, "Good question, I'll ask."

Patrick Taschler is "quite a fan of astronomy." [Tischler m (German) joiner (maker of wooden furniture)]

With its elevation of 5,023 m, Tungurahua just over tops the snow line (about 4,900 m). Tungurahua's top is snow covered and did feature a small summit glacier which melted away after the increase of volcanic activity in 1999.

<<I decided to head for Ecuador, driven by my love of mountains and an insatiable urge to travel. I got more than I bargained for when I arrived, because I discovered that the Tungurahua volcano, located around 80 miles south of the country’s capital Quito, was about to erupt and was spewing dense smoke and lava. I approached it from the west, which was said to be the good weather side, since the clouds generally roll in from the east/amazonas. The road I was on ended at Puela, a little town at the western slopes of the volcano. Night fell and the clouds dissipated and I found myself staying up all night to observe and to take pictures. I’m quite a fan of astronomy and so I realised that the star cluster M45 (pleiades) was about to appear in the night sky on this moonless night, and that it would emerge more or less behind the crater. That’s exactly what happened,I took my picture using a Canon D20 and 70-200mm combination, with an exposure time of around 20 seconds. It was a difficult shot to take, thanks to the humidity and the fact that ash was falling fairly liberally around me: my camera is now worth half its price! The next morning I started my walk along the flanks of the volcano to reach Banos: there had been a road, but much of it had been destroyed by lava flows. The villages I passed were semi-deserted and the vegetation was covered with ash: all the time what really scared me about the volcano was that it was so quiet....no explosions, and my fear was that something was building up. Time, I told myself, to get out of here! The following night the villages of Bilbao and Penipe suffered heavy damage and those of Chilibu, Chogloctuz and Palitagua got wiped out.>>

[jcstehli@en.com]

I am fairly certain it was not lavabut glowing rocks which tumbled down the slope. The photo did not appear to show any actual flows of liquid lava. I shot nearly the same photos in Costa Rica several years ago, with a 30 second exposure. With the exception of the clouds, I think most people could not tell the difference between our photos. All glowing rock. No lava. All spectacular.

[FloridaMike]

Astronomy, meteorology and geology in the same photo. Nice!

[nstahl]

It's a great picture and geographical events are automatically astronomical events (if not for you, at least for 99.9999999+% of the inhabitants of the universe)

[orin stepanek]

Yup! If I was a Martian; I'd be very interested in any pictures of Earth. Last time I looked; Earth was a member of the universe in the galaxy called the Milky Way! Actually I liked the picture so much; I decided to use it as a wall paper!

[Prism]

The picture is spectacular. But I don't think that astronomy is which shows stars somewhere on the image. I don't think that meteorological events, haloes, zodiacal lights are parts of astronomy. Nor clouds, storms, thunders, high altitude pollution, stratospheric phenomena. Although astronomers see these first, it's not astronomy. Nearly but not really. I would like, just other people here, to see interesting, rare, at least wonderful pictures about celestial bodies, of the Solar System or in the deep space.

[Chris Peterson]

The picture is spectacular. But I don't think that astronomy is which shows stars somewhere on the image.

I agree, that is not "astronomy". But it is "astronomical", which accurately describes what APOD is all about. This site has always included aesthetically pleasing Earth images that incorporate astronomical objects.

I don't think that meteorological events, haloes, zodiacal lights are parts of astronomy. Nor clouds, storms, thunders, high altitude pollution, stratospheric phenomena. Although astronomers see these first, it's not astronomy.

Well, as a meteoriticist, I'd take exception to your inclusion of zodiacal light here, since it is produced by interplanetary dust and is certainly an important area of study by professional astronomers. Similarly for some stratospheric phenomena, like meteors.

As far at the other things... while not technically astronomical, they nearly always have analogs on other planets, so reminding ourselves of how they appear on Earth- where we can observe them closely- is not a bad idea.

[Prism]

All rigth, I will receive pictures as pictures of an astronomical gallery if they are shot "up there". If I must receive them. But a volcano... "not technically astronomical, they nearly always have analogs on other planets" Come on, the rain has very interesting analog on Titan, but is this enough reason to show pictures about rain on an 'astronomical' site? I don't get it. There are plenty of explosive shots about the space, let's get samples of them.

[Anthony Barreiro]

Awesome photo! I usually enjoy the pictures of Earth on apod. Earth, after all, is a planet, in a solar system, in a galaxy, etc. (I wonder if the people who are most irritated by terrestrial pictures on apod are also the most passionate proponents of human space exploration. From my perspective, we're already way out in space, and robots are the most practical way to explore the neighborhood.)

And I appreciate that somebody is going to the trouble to find a new picture and write an informative caption with links, seven days a week, 365 days a year. As Scoop Nisker used to say on KSAN, "if you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own."

[Chris Peterson]

All rigth, I will receive pictures as pictures of an astronomical gallery if they are shot "up there". If I must receive them. But a volcano... "not technically astronomical, they nearly always have analogs on other planets" Come on, the rain has very interesting analog on Titan, but is this enough reason to show pictures about rain on an 'astronomical' site? I don't get it. There are plenty of explosive shots about the space, let's get samples of them.

The point of this image isn't the volcano. It's the volcano with the starry sky behind it. Pictures like this, that I'd describe as landscape/starscape combinations show up on APOD a couple times each month... and always have. Astronomy isn't just about the science of objects beyond the Earth, but is also about the historical, cultural, and aesthetic influence the night sky has on us.

[JohnD]

That 12 year old boy should be reminded that St.Augustin answered another 12 year old boy, who asked what his god was doing before creating the heavens and the Earth, by saying that he was creating a Hell for people wo asked that question.

Strangely in parallel, yesterday's Earth Picture of the Day featured the Moon 'X': http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/04/lunar-x.html

John

[Prism]

@Chris Peterson: I don't want to argue, I did not want. I have only told here that I don't like something which I found a point low enough to talk about it. That's all.

[Anthony Barreiro]

@Chris Peterson: I don't want to argue, I did not want. I have only told here that I don't like something which I found a point low enough to talk about it. That's all.

Prism -- You could take it as a compliment that Chris chose to argue with you. I like to think of him as Starship Asterisk's resident curmudgeon, haunting the lower Jefferies tubes below the impulse engines and suddenly accosting new crew members with binders full of Starfleet policies and procedures.

[Chris Peterson]

Prism -- You could take it as a compliment that Chris chose to argue with you. I like to think of him as Starship Asterisk's resident curmudgeon, haunting the lower Jefferies tubes below the impulse engines and suddenly accosting new crew members with binders full of Starfleet policies and procedures.

If I'm a curmudgeon, what's Art?! <g>

[Prism]

... I like to think of him as Starship Asterisk's resident curmudgeon ...

Well, at this case I feel I've got a giant privilege to display my observation in peace. Never mind, I will everyway continue checking this site every day, hoping I will find nice pictures here which don't bring on this kind of questions in a twelve year old mind of a young fan of the astronomy.

[owlice]

I think the question is fair, and I hope the answers supplied here help him broaden his interests and take new delight in astronomy, though the answers appear to not have had that effect on some of the adults who have read them.

[neufer]

King Lear (a.k.a., Chris Peterson) w. Art Neuendorffer

Prism -- You could take it as a compliment that Chris chose to argue with you. I like to think of him as Starship Asterisk's resident curmudgeon, haunting the lower Jefferies tubes below the impulse engines and suddenly accosting new crew members with binders full of Starfleet policies and procedures.

If I'm a curmudgeon, what's Art?! <g>