Holiday snaps from space: Sakurajima

Sakurajima Volcano in Japan, taken from the ISS on February 17. Image courtesy of Soichi Noguchi.

Eruptions reader Tim Stone sent me a link to the TwitPic feed for Soichi Noguchi, the Japanese astronaut currently on board of the International Space Station. The space traveller got a shot of Sakurajima from space, showing a beautiful plume drifting off - and great detail of the towns and roads near the volcano. Soichi has some other great shots (and comments to go with them), including my old haunt Seattle (with a comment about Ichiro), Mt. Aso - another Japanese volcano, and the Patagonian coast. Great stuff - and to think, we're living in a world where astronauts can take snaps from space and we can see them almost instantly on the interwebs.