Incredible Picture of the Icelandic Volcano Eruption

As ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano continued to keep European airspace shut down over the weekend, affecting millions of travelers around the world, some government agencies and airlines clashed over the flight bans. Some restricted airspace is now beginning to open up and some limited flights are being allowed now as airlines are pushing for the ability to judge safety conditions for themselves. The volcano continues to rumble and hurl ash skyward, if at a slightly diminished rate now, as the dispersing ash plume has dropped closer to the ground, and the World Health Organization has issued a health warning to Europeans with respiratory conditions. Collected here are some images from Iceland over the past few days.

PHOTO: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Boston.com has an amazing collection of photos of Iceland's erupting volcano.

Update: More incredible iceland volcano pictures on NatGeo and NASA.

Alien Landscapes on Planet Earth

Amateur photographer Martin Rietze has travelled the globe from the Arctic to Ethiopia capturing some of the planet's more other-worldly terrains

A cone overflow at night from Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano in Rift Valley, Tanzania. Lengai is the only active sodium carbonate volcano in the world. This lava is liquid like water

via telegraph.co.uk

Iain Crawford

by London Photographer Iain Crawford

9/11: The World Trade Center Terrorist Attack from Space

This photo was taken of metropolitan New York City (and other parts of New York as well as New Jersey) the morning of September 11, 2001.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to all the people there, and everywhere else.

said Station Commander Frank Culbertson of Expedition 3, after the terrorists’ attacks.

Image credit: NASA

Gallery: Wildfires in Southern California

Angeles National Forest, in the hills outside of Los Angeles currently has several wildfires tearing through it, the largest of which - named the Station Fire - has so far burned over 140,000 acres, destroyed nearly 100 structures, and claimed the lives of two firefighters whose vehicle fell from a road into a steep canyon. Evacuation orders are in place for thousands in communities around the city, and residents of Los Angeles itself are contending with thick smoke and ash hanging in the air, causing air quality to drop to unhealthful levels in many parts. Currently, the Station Fire is estimated to be 22% contained, and favorable weather appears to be aiding the efforts of the firefighters.

via Boston.com

 

Exploding Water Balloons

Fantastic shots of water balloons taken with a high speed camera are just fantastic. Who knew water could look so fascinating?

They bring back memories of when you were a young scamp, mischievously dropping water bombs on hapless cyclists from overpasses, or soaking whole streets in drive-by drench-athons – but those days of innocence are gone now. So, it just leaves us to sit back and wonder at the beautiful physics of the things – as well as the devilish uses to which they can be put.

Allahabad India a Child

Photograph by Rajesh Kumar

Shanghai Night Shot

The Monastery Built on a Volcanic Plug, Burma

Taung Kalat, located in central Burma, thirty miles or so from the ancient city of Bagan towers above the earth like some sort of giant's sand castle.  Atop it there is a Buddhist monastery which rests upon the precipitous volcanic plug.

link (image credit)