ACTIVE PHILIPPINE VOLCANOES:

Taal volcano eruption is seen from SPACE as satellite catches the moment the Philippines mountain explodes sending a plume of ash and sulfur billowing into the atmosphereV

• Japan's Himawari-8 satellite captured the  Taal volcano erupting
• The volcano erupted January 12 and 13 and forced thousands to flee their homes
• Animation shows the plume spreading over the course of two days The Taal volcano in the Philippines woke from a 43 year long slumber last week and a satellite captured the entire event from space.

The eruption was recorded by Japan's Himawari-8 satellite, which was animated an released by that shows the plume spread over the course of January 12 and 13.

The massive volcano sent ash nine miles into the air, which was followed by a gushing lava fountain that forced thousands to flee their homes.

Clouds of ash blew more than 60 miles north of the volcano, reaching Manila and shutting down the country's main airport with hundreds of flights cancelled.

There were no early reports of casualties but authorities were today scrambling to evacuate more than 6,000 villagers from the volcanic island in the middle of a lake which is usually a popular tourist spot.

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The Taal volcano in the Philippines woke from a 43 year long slumber last week and a satellite captured the entire event from space. The eruption was recorded by Japan's Himawari-8 satellite, which was animated an released by that shows the plume spread over the course of January 12 and 13

The eruption began with an explosion of superheated steam and rock, but by early Monday 'fountains' of lava had been spotted on Taal, the volcano monitoring agency said.

'The plume is probably comprised mostly of water droplets,' said Simon Carn, a volcanologist at Michigan Tech. 'There may be some volcanic ash but in such 'wet' plumes volcanic ash can be difficult to detect as the ash particles are often covered by liquid water.'

The crater of the volcano, which lies in the middle of a picturesque lake, blasted into life with towering clouds of ash and jets of red-hot lava on Sunday, forcing those living around the mountain south of Manila to rush to safety.

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There were no early reports of casualties but authorities were today scrambling to evacuate more than 6,000 villagers from the volcanic island in the middle of a lake which is usually a popular tourist spot.

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The Taal volcano is located in the Philippines just outside Manila

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The crater of the volcano, which lies in the middle of a picturesque lake, blasted into life with towering clouds of ash and jets of red-hot lava on Sunday, forcing those living around the mountain south of Manila to rush to safety

Clouds of volcanic ash blowing over Manila, 40 miles to the north, closed the country's main airport Sunday and part of Monday until the ash fall eased.

The alert level since the eruption began Sunday has been 4, indicating a hazardous eruption is possible in hours to days.

Many people abandoned livestock and pets as well as homes full of belongings after authorities sounded an alert warning that an 'explosive eruption' could come imminently.

Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon said urged people to obey evacuation orders, saying the possibility of an explosive eruption was 'high'.

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The alert level since the eruption began Sunday has been 4, indicating a hazardous eruption is possible in hours to days

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The Taal eruption has been putting on a stunning and terrifying display, with lightning crackling through its ash cloud in a poorly understood phenomenon that has been attributed to static electricity

'We urge people living in the danger zone to evacuate and follow evacuation orders issued by the authorities, he said.

'Bring your animals and livestock to evacuation centres if you must. The Philippine Red Cross is working round the clock to assess and meet the needs of affected communities.'

Taal is one of the most active volcanoes in a nation hit periodically by eruptions and earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire' - a zone of intense seismic activity.

The Taal eruption has been putting on a stunning and terrifying display, with lightning crackling through its ash cloud in a poorly understood phenomenon that has been attributed to static electricity.

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Many people abandoned livestock and pets as well as homes full of belongings after authorities sounded an alert warning that an 'explosive eruption' could come imminently

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Pictured is a view of the volcano before it woke from its 43 year long slumber

Lava and ash rise, but routines of life remain

AP photographer Bullit Marquez has been chronicling in dazzling imagery the eruption of one of Asia's most picturesque volcanoes, Mount Mayon, which has displaced more than 78,000 villagers in the northeastern Philippines. For nearly two weeks, Mayon - famous for its near-perfect cone shape - has increasingly been gushing red-hot lava fountains, belching huge columns of ash and molten rocks into the sky and plunging outlying villages and cities in darkness due to the falling ash.

Entire villages within an 8-kilometer (5-mile) danger zone have been abandoned by residents, but police and army troops are stopping villagers worried about their homes and farm animals and keeping tourists from venturing closer to photograph what some call a "beautiful disaster."

Many residents are accustomed to Mayon's fury and go about their lives normally. Shopping malls, coffee shops and restaurants in the provincial capital, Legazpi city, buzzed day and night. Marquez photographed a farmer tending his field in Camalig town as two rainbows appeared in the backdrop of the cloud-shrouded volcano.

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In this Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, file photo, the Mayon volcano spews ash as it erupts behind Legazpi city, Albay province, southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, file photo, pyroclastic materials cascade down the slopes of the Mayon volcano as it erupts behind Legazpi city, Albay province, around 340 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, file photo, the Mayon volcano erupts for the second straight day outside Legazpi city, Albay province, southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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A farmer tills his field as two rainbows appear while Mayon volcano erupts anew as seen from Camalig township, Legazpi city, Albay province, southeast of Manila, Philippines Friday, Jan. 26, 2018. More lava was spilling from a Philippine volcano also sending up columns of ash over farmland and towns already coated in gray after a nearly two-week eruption. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

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In this Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, file photo, a fisherman unloads gear during a mild eruption of the Mayon volcano at sunrise, outside Legazpi city, Albay province, roughly 340 kilometers (200 miles), southeast of Manila, Philippines.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018, file photo, the Mayon volcano spews red-hot lava in another eruption as seen from Legazpi city, Albay province, around 340 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Jan. 25, 2018, file photo, farmers tend to their crops during a mild eruption of the Mayon volcano at sunrise outside Legazpi city, Albay province, roughly 340 kilometers (200 miles), southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, file photo, the Mayon volcano spews molten lava during its sporadic eruption early as seen from a village in Legazpi city, Albay province, around 340 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018, file photo, a rafter of turkeys searches for food amidst an erupting Mayon volcano as seen from Legazpi city, Albay province, around 340 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, file photo, the Mayon volcano spews red-hot lava in another eruption as seen from Legazpi city, Albay province, roughly 200 miles (340 kilometers) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, file photo, a public transport driver pauses to look at the erupting Mayon volcano behind a village in Legazpi city, Albay province, around 340 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, file photo, the Mayon volcano continues to erupt as the sun sets behind Legazpi city, in Albay province, roughly 340 kilometers, (200 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018, file photo, residents watch as Mayon volcano erupts anew as seen from Legazpi city, Albay province, around 340 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, file photo, the Mayon volcano spews red-hot lava in another eruption as seen from Legazpi city, Albay province, roughly 200 miles (340 kilometers) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, file photo, the Mayon volcano spews molten lava during its sporadic eruption in the early morning outside Legazpi city, Albay province, around 340 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

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In this Thursday, Jan. 26, 2018, file photo, the Mayon volcano erupts anew at sunset in Albay province around 200 miles (340 kilometers) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

DECLASSIFIED UFO REPORT DOCUMENTS 'GREEN CIRCULAR OBJECT' OVER SOVIET EXPERIMENTAL MISSILE RANGE

AN INTELLIGENCE REPORT NEWLY DECLASSIFIED BY THE CIA SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON A NEARLY 50-YEAR-OLD UFO MYSTERY, REVEALING DETAILS GATHERED FROM AN EXPERIMENTAL MISSILE RANGE IN PRESENT-DAY KAZAKHSTAN.

The report not only includes unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), but rumored Cold War "laser weapons."

The UFO sighting took place in 1973 and was first revealed to the public in an "Intelligence Information Report" released by the CIA in 1978. Heavily redacted, the declassified version of the document contains only a single paragraph, detailing an encounter with a UFO at a location called "Site 7."

The UFO encounter took place in the summer, when the sighting's source "stepped outside for some air," taking a break from watching a Canada vs. USSR sports match on TV. It was evening, and the source saw above "an unidentified sharp (bright) green circular object or mass in the sky."

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The UFO spotter believed the object was hovering above the cloud level, though it was a clear sky at the time of the sighting. The source was not, however, able to estimate the object's diameter.

A parade of missiles passes a Lenin poster in Moscow's Red Square in November 1978 druing the 61st anniversary celebration of the Russian Revolution.

PHOTO BY KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES

The sighting got weirder from there: "Within 10 to 15 seconds of observation, the green circle widened and within a brief period of time several green concentric circles formed around the mass. Within minutes the coloring disappeared. There was no sound, such as an explosion, associated with the phenomenon," the document says.

But after a request for a Mandatory Declassification Review from researcher John Greenewald of The Black Vault—a site specializing in declassified government records—the CIA released a fuller picture of the sighting, which was recorded in the context of a detailed intelligence report into military activities at the Soviet Union's Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range.Greenewald drew a direct line between Cold War-era sightings and similar UAP encounters documented by the U.S. Department of Defense, most famously the unidentified objects featured in three U.S. Navy videos released by the To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science in 2017 and early 2018. Subsequently, a military official revealed to The Washington Post that UAPs intrude upon military airspace as often as several times per month.

"This is very much simliar to the context we see today, with threats on military facilities," Greenewald told Newsweek in a telephone interview. "The U.S. Navy has gone on the record saying whatever this is, it's a concern. They're being encroached upon by this unidentified phenomena."

The more fully declassified file released by the CIA details activities at the testing range, including rough maps of the facilities, the command hierarchy and personnel estimates, making it a fascinating Cold War-era intelligence even absent the dramatic UFO encounter. Weapons tested at the facility included experimental missiles and warheads with cartridges loaded with hundreds of metal balls.

A map of the facilities at Sary Shagan, included in a more fully declassified CIA intelligence report.

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

More experimental weapons may also have been under development at the testing range. "According to hearsay, experiments involving laser weapons were conducted at an unknown location at the range. Supposedly the tests involved powerful antennas," the report notes.

Site 7, where the UFO sighting took place, was the headquarters for the "warhead checkout unit" and a garrison of Soviet Air Force personnel.

While lesser known in U.S. research circles, the sighting is just one of numerous encounters with unidentified aerial phenomena surrounding Soviet military installations throught the Cold War era, similar to unexplained encroachments still recorded by the U.S. military today.

Newsweek has also reached out to the Central Intelligence Agency with a request for additional context surrounding the document, but did not hear back in time for publication.

The area where the alleged UFO was spotted nearly five decades ago was apparently used by the USSR to test experimental missiles and laser weapon systems.

A recently declassified CIA report sheds light on an alleged UFO encounter that took place at the height of the Cold War in Kazakhstan in 1973, back when it was part of the Soviet Union.

The document, whose redacted version was first released in 1978 and which has now been made available on The Black Vault, a website that publishes declassified government files, mentions how the witness, identified in the paper as “Source”, “stepped outside for some air” and spotted “an unidentified sharp (bright) green circular object or mass” hovering “above cloud level”.

“Within 10 to 15 seconds of observation, the green circle widened and within a brief period of time, several green concentric circles formed around the mass. Within minutes the coloring disappeared. There was no sound, such as an explosion, associated with the phenomenon”, the document states citing the witness’ observations.

According to the website, the sighting took place in the vicinity of the Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range that was allegedly used by the USSR back then to secretly launch “experimental missiles” and to test “laser weapon systems utilizing powerful antennas”.

During a telephone interview with Newsweek, The Black Vault’s founder John Greenewald compared the encounter with the so-called USS Nimitz UFO incident which took place in 2004.

“This is very much similar to the context we see today, with threats on military facilities,” he said. “The US Navy has gone on the record saying whatever this is, it’s a concern. They’re being encroached upon by this unidentified phenomenon.