I received this message and attached pictures through a forwarded e-mail message. I don’t know what the provenance of these pictures is; I don’t know who took them, or when; but I do know they’re pretty goddam spectacular. Behold:
Two of nature’s most spectacular forces produced an incredible brew in the skies of Chile as a volcanic eruption met a lightning storm. Tons of and ash from the eruption of the Chaitén volcano poured into the night sky just as an electric storm passed overhead. The resulting collision created a spectacular sight as lightning flickered around the dust cloud amid the orange glow of the volcano. The eruption was all the more spectacular because the Chaitén volcano, 800 miles (1,290km) south of Santiago, has been dormant for hundreds – if not thousands of years. The Patagonian volcano began erupting on Friday and the 12-mile-high plume has left vast tracts of land coated with a layer of ash.
Gazing Into the Abyss 