In a photo aptly named “Volcano Magic,” photographer Tomas van der Weijden captured two natural phenomena taking place at the same time: the eruption of a volcano and a meteor streaking through the night sky.

Weather in your inbox

Forecast Location

Sign Up

By signing up you agree to the Terms & Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe at any time.

“We were out in the mountains shooting lava streaming down the Klyuchevskaya volcano in Kamchatka, and then this happened,” van der Weijden wrote on his Facebook page. “I instantly wished that my camera had captured the meteor - and well, it did.”

Weather conditions in the last week of September lent a helping hand to the photographer, who traveled to the peak with a group of shutterbugs.

“There was a mix of clouds and sun on the 27th and 28th of September ahead of a cold front, and clearing skies behind the cold front on the 29th and 30th,” said weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Belles.

(MORE: 6 Destinations That Are Going to Burn Forever)

“We were extremely lucky with the circumstances (not just the meteor, but clear skies and the active volcano!), as it had been a couple of years since lava streams had erupted from this particular volcano,” van der Weijden told PetaPixel.

In addition to the favorable conditions, a dose of luck also helped the photographer capture his amazing image.

Just before the phenomenon, van der Weijden had switched to a lens that allowed him to get a closer view of the mountain – a camera that had a shutter speed of 15 seconds – he told photographer website Fstoppers.

The Klyuchevskaya volcano is the highest peak on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula and is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, according to Britannica. It has erupted more than 50 times since 1700.

You can see more of van der Weijden's work on his Instagram and Facebook pages.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Milky Way Over a Volcano

unknown node