Ash sent spewing into the air from the massive underwater volcanic eruption in Tonga has been photographed by astronauts on the International Space Station.
NASA shared the remarkable pictures taken out of the ISS Cupola windows, showing a blanket of ash from plumes spewing thousands of feet into the atmosphere.
The massive volcano erupted on January 15, creating a 'massive explosion' that happens once in every thousand years, and is large enough to be visible from space.
It triggered a 7.4 magnitude earthquake, sending tsunami waves crashing into the island, leaving it covered in ash and cut off from outside help.
The event was so striking that satellites captured the moment of the eruption, with astronauts on the ISS taking images of plumes and blankets of ash over the region.
The pictures were taken by NASA astronaut Kayla Barron as the station made a pass over New Zealand, looking down from 253 miles above the Earth.
Ash sent spewing into the air from the massive underwater volcanic eruption in Tonga has been photographed by astronauts on the International Space Station
NASA shared the remarkable pictures taken out of the ISS Cupola windows, showing a blanket of ash from plumes spewing thousands of feet into the atmosphere
The massive volcano erupted on January 15, creating a 'massive explosion' that happens once in every thousand years, and is large enough to be visible from space
In the US, waves of more than four feet were recorded on the California coast on Saturday, and tsunami-effect waves were recorded along the coast in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia in Canada, and Alaska.
Astronaut Barron 'opened the window' to the Cupola on Sunday and saw the effects of the eruption, pulling out her camera to capture the effects.
'Ash from Saturday’s underwater volcanic eruption in the remote Pacific nation of Tonga made its way thousands of feet into the atmosphere & was visible from @Space_Station,' the NASA_Astronauts account tweeted.
There are four images shared by the NASA team , each showing the area around New Zealand, showing a sky filled with ash and dust.
One of the images makes it look like the sky is completely covered in a thick, white cloud, another showing strands of cloud appearing to cover half the planet.
Images from space played a major part in the detection, details and sharing of this eruption, with satellite images showing the moment it exploded.
It triggered a 7.4 magnitude earthquake, sending tsunami waves crashing into the island, leaving it covered in ash and cut off from outside help
The event was so striking that satellites captured the moment of the eruption, with astronauts on the ISS taking images of plumes and blankets of ash over the region
A number of weather satellites captured the eruption as it happened, revealing a massive 'mushroom-like'
