Smokin’ Dust.

The Boston Globe‘s web site features some of 2008’s best photos, like this one, taken by Reuters’ Carlos Gutierrez on May 2. In it, lightning bolts shatter the ejected dust above the erupting Chaiten volcano in southern Chile. To give you a sense of scale, the image was snapped from a relatively safe 19 miles north of the light show.

“Cases of electrical storms breaking out directly above erupting volcanoes are well documented, although scientists differ on what causes them.”

Gotta love those scientists: Walking into the haunted house while everybody else runs the hell in the opposite direction.