View of New Guinea Volcano as seen from STS-64
The beginning of the second day of activity of the Rabaul volcano, on the east end of New Britain: on the morning of September 19, 1994, two volcanic cones on the opposite sides of the 6 kilometer sea crater had begun to erupt with very little warning and this photo shows the large white billowing eruption plume is carried in a westerly direction by the weak prevailing winds. At the base of the eruption column is a layer of yellow-brown ash being distributed by lower level winds. A sharp boundary moving outward from the center of the eruption in the lower cloud is a pulse of laterally-moving ash which results from a volcanic explosion. The cloud-covered island in the foreground is New Ireland. The bay and harbor of Rabaul are covered with a layer of ash, possibly partly infilled with volcanic material. Matupit Island and the airport runway have disappeared into the bay.(Photo by Space Frontiers/Archive Photos/Getty Images)