Collected here are a handful of photographs of Sarychev Peak Volcano, and more, taken by astronauts aboard the ISS over the past few months

High above Russia's Kuril Islands, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) look down on erupting Sarychev Peak Volcano (plume in center, left) on Matua Island and its brownish ash mixing with cloud cover downwind on June 12, 2009

A closer look at Sarychev Peak Volcano reveals more detail, the circular hole in the clouds around the island, the smooth condensation cloud wrapping much of the ash plume

A view looking straight down at the top of the eruption plume of Sarychev Peak Volcano on June 12, 2009. Local winds were very light that day, and the eruption plume's upward motion was hardly disturbed at all

One day after its eruption pictured above

A view of the Pacific coast around Puerto Atico, Peru

The sun glints off Lake Poopó in Bolivia

Smoke blows eastward from a mountain slope in Canada's Rocky Mountains

Evaporation ponds