Sophie Adenot – A French ESA astronaut aboard the International Space Station shared striking photos of Mount Vesuvius from orbit in late May, showing a volcano that has not erupted since 1944 while the ISS passed overhead near Italy’s coastline.
For a few quiet minutes over Italy, Mount Vesuvius looked almost still.
Sophie Adenot. a French astronaut with the European Space Agency. captured the volcano from the International Space Station as the orbital outpost swept overhead. In her photos. Vesuvius appears serene—quietly spewing hot gases and vapors—despite its reputation as one of Europe’s most dangerous volcanoes.
Adenot posted a series of images after the ISS flew over the region east of Naples at the end of May. The view came just moments after astronauts also spotted Mount Etna nearby on the east coast of Sicily.
Vesuvius is the same volcano infamously responsible for burying Pompeii in ash more than 1,900 years ago. It has not erupted since 1944.
Adenot shared four of her images on X. In the post, she said: “From orbit, volcanoes are some of the most beautiful natural sights.” She added that Vesuvius is “instantly recognizable by the vast crater, the path winding up to the summit, and, most of all, Naples spread out all around it.”
The International Space Station. where Adenot took the pictures. has been stationed in low-Earth orbit for more than 25 years. typically about 260 miles high. Over its lifespan. it has served as a test bed for scientific research in microgravity. and it has also opened itself up to private commercial missions in years past.
The station is operated through a global partnership of space agencies. including NASA. Roscosmos. the European Space Agency. the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. and the Canadian Space Agency. NASA says more than 290 spacefarers from 26 countries have visited the ISS, including 170 from the United States.
The timing of Adenot’s flight also places her work within Expedition 74. with seven astronauts living and working aboard the station. Adenot is part of a crew of four from the Crew-12 mission, which docked in mid-February. That Crew-12 group includes NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, along with Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The Crew-12 contingent is due to depart in September following the arrival of Crew-13.
Two other astronauts are also on the ISS through their current rotations. NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russians Sergey Mikaev and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov arrived at the end of November on a Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft, and will remain at the orbital laboratory until their replacements arrive in July.
The juxtaposition is striking: from Earth, Vesuvius is often framed by what it can destroy. From orbit, Adenot’s photographs show the quieter, more immediate reality of a volcano actively releasing gases and vapors while remaining—at least for now—without an eruption since 1944.
International Space Station ISS Sophie Adenot European Space Agency ESA Mount Vesuvius Naples Pompeii Mount Etna space photography Expedition 74 Crew-12 Soyuz MS-28
That volcano is just chilling like it pays rent.
So it hasn’t erupted since 1944 but it’s still “spewing”?? I’m confused lol. Are they saying it’s safe or just not doing the big one.
Pompeii was like… what, 1944? Like I swear I’ve heard different years. Also from orbit you can’t really tell if it’s dangerous, it could be like actively about to pop off the whole time.
Mount Vesuvius always freaks me out. The article says it looks serene from space and the ISS is 260 miles up, but then it’s “dangerous” so which is it? Naples being right there sounds like the worst place to live if a volcano decides to remember Pompeii. Anyway cool pics though, I guess.