Think this is just another devastatingly gorgeous picture of a volcano from NASA?
Well, you're right. Kinda. First, the image is from NASA's Earth Observatory-1, which -- surprise! -- observes the Earth. The volcano in question is Volcán Villarrica, a 2850 meter (9300 foot) snow-capped stratovolcano at the southern tip of Chile. It's a fairly active mountain, frequently ejecting ash and airborne rocks called pyroclasts, and causing lahars (mud flows). You can see the mess it's made to the east (right), and to the west there is a vast network of grooves caused by flowing mud and lava. So, cool picture, right? The thing is, this isn't a picture. At least, not really! You'd expect that EO-1 is equipped with a camera much like a digital camera you can get in a store (though probably a tad more pricey). And in fact, most cameras on board satellites are like that: ...
