The Moment It Happened
Photographer Gunarto Song was taking photos of Mount Merapi, a very active volcano in Indonesia, when something amazing happened.
He witnessed meteors streaking across the sky. And with his camera trained on the volcano, captured in long exposure, a beautifully lit meteor flying directly toward the mouth of Mount Merapi.
While the streaking meteor most likely descended behind the massive volcano, the perspective shows it flying right into the center of it. Like some type of alien science fiction. ☄️ 🌋 It’s the kind of split-second cosmic coincidence astrophotographers wait years to catch — the same wonder you’ll find across our collection of Milky Way and night-sky photography.
The beautifully timed photo is similar to this experience back in 2016 on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
- Volcano: Mount Merapi, Central Java, Indonesia
- Photographer: Gunarto Song
- Exposure: Approximately 4 seconds
- Volcanic activity: Erupting regularly since 1548
About the Photograph
The long exposure captured this stunning shot of a meteor streaking directly toward the mouth of the active volcano.
Why This Is So Rare
Mount Merapi is a highly active stratovolcano in Indonesia, and has been erupting regularly since 1548.
Catching a meteor and an erupting volcano in the same frame is vanishingly rare — it takes the right location, the right night, and a photographer who’s ready the instant it happens. For more of that same volcanic drama, see our look at Gabor Nagy’s stunning photographs of lava.
With the right timing and perspective, Song captured this stunning image. The photograph had about a 4 second long exposure, which shows the meteor’s streaking tail.
17 Comments
Cool pic
DEW, space laser! Americans always get late memo because we so busy and such🤣 we jus can’t stop working ya know. They keep us busy here to have nothing. Then give all the money away. But even the hillbillies know to keep the roof blue with the tarps and such. That’s the memo..smile🐍🐍🐍
DEW
I’m calling bs
Judging by the moronic tinfoil hat comments in here…
Mankind is better off if we get wiped out.
We’re too stupid to keep going.
Space lasers?
Mares eat oats and doe’s oats and little lamb’s eat ivy, kids will eat ivy too wouldn’t you. Thank you for the spectacular photo.
It was an alien ship shooting a plasma weapon into the volcano. I know, cuz I met them, and they abducted me and forced me to take them to 5 Guys Burgers. Man those guys can eat.
Agree with Mary
Agree with above, laser weapon, or whatever they use to start fires, quakes, eruptions. That shot was not supposedvto be seen.
Volcanos and Meteors. Proof of the fragility of our planet, and messengers from the chaos of the universe. Lots to think about there. Great capture!
I believe we dodged a bullet on this near miss! If it had hit the volcano, no telling how bad the result would have been!
Looks like a ufo to me!
That’s the new space laser they used to burn multiple areas lately. In this shot, which was supposed to go unnoticed, they shot the laser into the volcano as a test to see if they can control the environmental monster with their death toys.
Agreed! One of the plot points of War of the Worlds included aliens 👽 arriving via something similar: lightning! ⚡️
I believe the Alien conspiracy theorists are going to have fun with this one.
It’s evident that the meteor did not hit the volcano (no smoke or dust at supposed impact point). It probably fell or disintegrated quite far away behind it, Great shot anyway!
WOW!!!!!