SPACEPHOTOS

Mount Aso Volcano, Kyushu, Japan April 1994. The central section of Japan’s largest southern island, Kyushu, shows a diverse landscape of rugged, vegetated mountains (darker terrain) with lighter-colored valley areas. The thin, highly reflective lines along the left edge of the image show dendretic stream patterns, that drain southeast through the mountains. A few cities such as Kumamoto (upper center) can be located within the lighter-colored valleys and coastal plains. Careful study of this image is required to be able to identify the location of Aso Volcano, one of the world’s broadest volcanoes (measuring 15 miles- 24 km in diameter). Several of the older pyroclastic flows are visible as uniform-looking features near the center of the image. There are at least 15 intra-caldera cones located in the larger caldera of Aso Volcano. The volcano is still active and emits deadly gases from time to time within the larger caldera. According to some authorities, Aso Volcano has produced more explosive eruptions that any other volcano in the world. The most recent eruption ended in 1993