One of the world's most dangerous volcanoes, Mount Vesuvius, appears to "peer up" into the sky through an eerily circular hole in the clouds in this striking satellite image.

The Operational Land Imager onboard the Landsat-8 satellite snapped the photo, which was released Jan.

The volcano's summit caldera — a large bowl-like depression that forms when a volcano erupts and collapses — is clearly visible in the new image, as well as a section of large mountainous ridge to the north, which is a remnant of Mount Somma — an ancient volcano that once stood in the same spot as Mount Vesuvius, before the newer volcano's cone grew from it's center. .

It is made up of multiple active, dormant and extinct volcanoes both on land and underwater, including Mount Etna in Sicily, which began erupting again in February 2021, Live Science previously reported.

Despite remaining calm since its last eruption, Mount Vesuvius is still classified as an active volcano and occasionally experiences shaking from belowground earthquake activity and gas venting from its summit.

It is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet because any future eruption has the potential to destroy Naples, an Italian city located 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) northwest of the volcano, which is home to more than 3 million people.

In 2011, a study published in the journal Nature described Mount Vesuvius as "Europe's ticking time bomb." .

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