View of Island of Kyushu, Japan from Skylab

SL4-139-3971 (8 Jan. 1974) --- An oblique view of Japan as seen from the Skylab space station in Earth orbit. The Island of Kyushu is at center left. The Island of Honshu is in the right background. The Korean Peninsula is in the left background. This picture was taken by one of the Skylab 4 crewmen using a hand-held 70mm Hasselblad camera with a 100mm lens. The plume form Kyushu's volcano Sakurajima is clearly seen in this photograph. Volcanic activity at Sakurajima is known to have occurred for over 1,200 years (first recorded in the year 708 A.D.) but for the first time the entire volcanic plume can be documented at one time. Skylab photographs and crew descriptions are much more detailed then information available from other satellites. The volcano and its plume were observed at least seven times during Skylab 4, and photographed and documented with television. In repeated observations the plume was seen to stream out to the south or southeast and become increasingly diffuse away from the volcano. As the plume reached the open ocean cast of Kyushu it changed direction, sometimes abruptly, and fanned out to the northeast. In this photograph it extends about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east from the volcano; the distribution and dispersion of particulate materials and volcanic gasses will be studied in this and similar Skylab photographs. Although the plume is primarily water vapor, it contains significant quantities of oxides of carbon, sulphur and nitrogen. These gases are considered pollutants, and understanding their abundance and distribution will help to evaluate the relative effect and significance of man-made atmospheric pollutants. Photo credit: NASA