With volcano eruptions and a meteor, nature presented a spectacular light show in Mexico’s night sky this weekend.
Forty miles southeast of Mexico City, the Popocatepetl volcano erupted twice on Friday, Dec. 7. The blast gave off magnificent flashes of light followed by red-hot lava spilling out of the crater and down the mountainside.
The first eruption occurred at 10:44 p.m. (11:44 p.m. ET) and the second at 11:22 p.m. (12:22 a.m. ET Saturday).
Large columns of ash and smoke from the eruptions were ejected up to 6,500 feet high, with the ash raining down on surrounding areas.
In the neighboring city of San Nicolas de los Ranchos, a man-made light show was going on at the same time, according to Reuters. The light show can be seen in mounted webcam footage captured at the time.
Less than 260 miles away, a meteor was captured by another camera just a few hours later at 5:16 a.m. (6:16 a.m. ET), cutting across the sky over Acapulco Bay.
According to the website of the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, there had been daily steam-and-gas emissions from the Popocatepetl volcano from Nov. 28 to Dec. 3, with two explosions occurring on Dec. 2.
