io9
Several days ago, a volcano that had been dormant for 9,000 years near the coast of Chile erupted spectacularly, hurling liquified metals and lightning many miles into the sky. The results, which you see here, are called a "dirty thunderstorm," and are quite rare. Nobody is certain what causes them, but according to National Geographic it's believed to be "the result of rock fragments, ash, and ice particles in the plume collid[ing] to produce static charges—just as ice particles collide to create charge in regular thunderstorms." Want to see a photo of the volcano plume from space?
The volcano spewed debris twenty miles up into the atmosphere. It erupted on Friday, May 2, and erupted again yesterday. Over 4,000 locals have fled, but luckily everyone was able to get away safely. The lava isn't the fast-moving kind, but rather a slow-moving creep of material. So nobody is being menaced by a rapidly-moving wall of liquid rock. Photographs via National Geographic.
Second Eruption in Chile [London Guardian]
Comments
Seriously cool.
... well actually, seriously hot and tingly, but you know what I mean.
*right click*
*save as*
New wallpaper!
Holy crap! That is AWESOME!
Why do I expect Sauron to climb out of that thing? Who knew Mount Doom was in Chile?
Now do it in IR.
Wow. Holy fucking wow.
@russdanger: Or pretty much any badass Demon or something... Dragon perhaps?
I think there must be a Sith Lord up in those clouds....is this just a promo for SW: Force Unleashed??? ;P
But all kidding aside to chime in with the posters above, that is Seriously AWESOME!
Kudos to the photographer for that shot.
so very wrath of zeus-ish. nice.
I would seriously loose bowel control if I looked out of my window and saw this.
This should be one of those motivational posters:
"Holy shit"
@workingonyourinvoice: or "Who Farted?"
THAT, is what I want to be able to do with my mind. (instead, I think its' what I've done TO my mind)
prutty.
Galactus? Is that you?
@workingonyourinvoice: Ask, and ye shall receive, bitches.
The top photo is actually a "Lost" spolier image...Go get 'em Smokey!
That has to be the baddest T-Storm ever. I'm a fan of thunderstorms... but that one would make me pee my pants.
@braak: I actually really want this poster, now.
Yow!
That IS a keeper!
GREAT stuff!
@braak:
You are now my hero. That rocks.
@braak: That's going on my cubicle wall...
Looks like that scene from the Matrix Revolutions, when the giant squiddy-bomb pooping thing came out of the clouds.
@braak: Badass!
And why should I bother worrying about the greenhouse effect when mother nature is busy belching up toxic tonnage? Mother nature, just shut up already!
I can't think of anything better to say than what braak's poster already did. Wow, just.... wow.
Damnit, if I hadn't been busy earlier I would've photoshopped it myself and taken all the credit! Curses!
Didn't realize there was an online generator. This is what I originally had in mind... Damn I suck at anything but the most basic posting... Sorry if the image doesn't properly post...
[diy.despair.com]
Once again nature outdoes anything the minds of men can come up with. Simply beautiful.
@Ravac: That was exactly what I thought when I saw it!
Freaky stuff! A beautiful yet menacing photo.
*heads off to play with captions on despair.com*
@workingonyourinvoice: Bwah-ha-ha! Look at me, taking credit for the ingenuity of those guys that made that website!
@workingonyourinvoice: Do a mashup with some tornadoes. Speaking of which, there seems to be something like that blowing through right now...better shut things down
[diy.despair.com]
@braak:
Aww, see, I thought you were some sort of creepy-fast Photoshop ninja.
You can still be my hero, though. Keep in mind, most of my heroes are usually drunk sociopaths or stark, raving lunatics...
Azethoth!
@Miranda Kali: Really?
We might get on pretty well, then:
[www.threatquality.com]
That is one of the coolest things to graze my vision in several weeks.
@PeteRR: You know, you could be right. Run for the bunker!!!
@braak:
Professional Freelance Theologian? ...Which is to mean you spanged in the Village with a "The End is Nigh!" sandwich board?
Oh yes. We'd get along like ducks 'n dynomite. ;)
Any high res versions of this image?
Yeah!
A little global cooling...
Of course now the "anti-global warming" people will have more cool weather to point at and say.. "see no wamring"
@Miranda Kali: I had a kiosk on Bleecker Street, where I sold free sermons on the life of Saint Polyeuctes.
@braak: sweeeet.
As if a volcano isn't enough it had to pull out the lightning. What's next, jets of acid? A rain of anvils soaked in kerosene? Swarms of leprous space monkeys dressed in barbed wire!?
hmmm... works a tad slow right now. Mebbe I'll do a little P-shop myself.
@braak:
Your bio reminds me of Sufjan Stevens :
[asthmatickitty.com]
Do you wrtie sf?
EPIC!
@Jeff-Minor: I am like Sufjan Stevens, in that I can also knit.
And I do write some sci-fi, sometimes.
You knit what? If you say Hello Kitty tea cozies I'm not talking to you any more (that'll show you!). I'd like to read some of your stuff.
@Jeff-Minor: Well, mostly just scarves. The scarf is the easiest thing to knit.
My mom can knit anything; I once saw her knit a two-stroke combustion engine.
@braak: And that, ladies and gentlemen and others, is why Braak has a star!
I'd like to place an order with your mom for a six-armed straight jacket, something in a carbon/silver/virgin wool (from real virgins, please) fiber blend would be nice. Any color will do, as long as it's black.
Does anyone have a higher res version of this.. I do want it as a new desktop...
I did some google searches and checked Nat Geo but no luck...
[diy.despair.com]
@What is a man?:
Sorry I had to borrow yours... (all artist steal)
Is there a way to get this on wikipedia commons as a high resolution, widescreen wallpaper?
Just when you thought it was safe...
[www.maj.com]
@Annalee Newitz: You know this means a bunch of motivation poster spam to come, right?
@workingonyourinvoice: Simple, direct, to the point. I like it.
All this talk of Zeus and Dark Lords etc is right on the money. You just know that if this had happened a few thousand years ago it would be enshrined in regional folklore as the tale of the war between the local lighting god and the earth divinty.
And Braak, just so you know, you are my new Lord and Master. What wouldst thou have of me?
Why does looking at this image give me the urge to harness the power of Dianetics?
Any of those environmentalist-types gonna show up at the volcano, holding up signs that read, "NO MORE POLLUTION" and "STOP GLOBAL WARMING"??? Didn't think so.
The coolest storm ever! I've always thought it was cool when elements came together to bring destruction, like a flaming tornado or something. But this is way better!
@jrcortez: No dofus, because volcanos fight global warming....
God...
Sigh.
The joys of living in California are rapidly diminishing. We're supposed to have the "big" earthquake within the next 30 years. Our economy has extreme suckage. And of course, we too also have dormant volcanoes. I call home the Shake and Bake State. Geez, I was only kidding...
Morjana
I don't suppose Storm has an alibi?
[www.marvel.com]
@Git Em SteveDave:
@DocGratis:
Best ones I could find are 800x514
[www.universetoday.com]
and an 1101x649 and 974x576
[www.xboxaddict.com]
Several different shots of the lightning strikes-all pretty freakin' awsome!
@DocGratis:
Wow, i'm from Chile and the last place where i expected a article from Chaiten volcano was here.
This little volcano (960m - 0.6mi) eruption was surprise, but it's look very coo
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