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Image of the day – 182
What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.
This photo really is extraordinary. Take a guess at what might be going on here first. Then I’ll tell you all about it.
Needless to say, I did not take this photo. It was in Nature Briefing, anyone can sign up free of charge for science news and photos from the prestigious scientific journal, Nature. The signup link is in the upper, right of the Nature home page.
The image was made by the photographer Francisco Negroni and shows Villarrica, described as the most dangerous volcano in Chile. (You can buy a much more detailed version of this image online.)
Two heavy, dark clouds have formed over the volcanic caldera, illuminated by the lava. The heat of the lava below has evaporated the central part of both these clouds, forming them into perfect rings. The sky was already dark enough for stars to be visible. How extraordinary to see both lava and snow close together, lava inside the volcano and snow on the slopes outside. Truly, the natural world is completely amazing.
Think about that last point, lava is literally red hot, around a thousand degrees C, snow is made of water ice, it can’t exist above 0 C at atmospheric pressure. The volcanic rock between the lava and the ice provides sufficient thermal insulation to allow these incompatible materials to survive inside and outside the volcanic cone at the same time!
People of faith may say that God made it that way, people of science will provide a physical explanation. Many people, perhaps even most, might argue these two views are incompatible. But that’s not necessarily the case; there are many people who are both good Christians (or Muslims, Jews, Buddhists or Hindus) and also good scientists. Very often faith communities have enabled and supported great advances in science and technology, enabling us to understand and explain all sorts of phenomena in mechanistic ways that sometimes seem not to require any kind of faith at all. It’s a conundrum that philosophers sometimes explore and discuss.
See also:
- Francisco Negroni – Website
- Nature – Website
- Villarica Volcano – Wikipedia
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