May 12, 2019
Long before your first heartbeat, stars were busy forging the elements you would one day call your own.
Ash and Lightning above an Icelandic Volcano
Birthday · May 12, 2019
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APOD published May 12, 2019. Credit: Sigur�ur Stefnisson. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Why did a picturesque volcanic eruption in Iceland create so much ash? Although the large ash plume was not unparalleled in its abundance, its location was particularly noticeable because it drifted across such well-populated areas. The Eyjafjallaj�kull volcano in southern Iceland began erupting on 2010 March 20, with a second eruption starting under the center of a small glacier on 2010 April 14. Neither eruption was unusually powerful. The second eruption, however, melted a large amount of glacial ice which then cooled and fragmented lava into gritty glass particles that were carried up with the rising volcanic plume. Pictured here during the second eruption, lightning bolts illuminate ash pouring out of the Eyjafjallaj�kull volcano. Follow APOD on: Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, or Twitter
Image credit: Sigur�ur Stefnisson