For nearly three weeks, images of volcanic activity on Hawaii’s Big Island have been mostly focused on the East Rift Zone on Kilauea’s slopes, where fissure upon fissure has opened up in the earth, spewing forth red-orange lava and sending thousands of residents fleeing from their homes.

Yesterday, the volcano’s Halemaumau Crater snapped people’s attention back to the summit with a commanding display: An eruption produced a towering ash plume from the crater that reached 12,000 feet high at its peak and could be seen for miles.

This is not “the big one”.  Yet.