Star Trail and the Eruption Cloud

A photo composite of  multiple exposures. From the photographer: “On the evening of 10 February, the Etna volcano awoke again after a period of tranquility. The volcanic tremor had begun its slow ascent since the morning of the 10th, a symptom of a possible paroxysm that, in fact, would have occurred in the early evening. Micro explosions followed immediately with the formation of lava plumes which then became real fountains.

Together with the lava, the volcano expelled considerable quantities of ash into the air, forming a cloud that reached 10,000 km in height. In this shot, taken at the astronomical observatories of Serra La Nave, installed on the volcano, it is possible to observe the brutal force of nature. It is evident in the almost one kilometer high lava fountain inside which it is also possible to observe lightning. A second lightning bolt emerges a little higher in the ash cloud. Two predominant aspects emerge: the first is the living force of nature. It contrasts with the starry sky gently lit by the Moon and whose stars make a star trail around the polar as if to surround the cloud of ash. The second is a purely physical element and is the way the cloud is dispersed. The single shots made it possible to highlight the trajectories of the particles at different altitudes. From below, the cloud makes an upward twist in an anticlockwise direction until it reaches the upper layers of the atmosphere where it disperses in a radial direction. The image therefore gives us the dynamics of the scene and the sense of drama of the event.”