Mexico's Colima volcano is known as one of the most active volcanoes this part of the earth but researchers, residents and webcam viewers were not prepared for the sight that they saw Thursday. Colima erupted early Thursday morning scaring everyone with brimming hot lava pouring endlessly along its sides and shooting thick black ash miles into the sky.

Colima volcano's lava flowed along its sides as it puffed out thick ash estimated to reach more than a mile into the sky, says the Wall Street Journal. The event was shocking for a lot of people including residents but was a spectacle to behold for most videographers and researchers. The last time that it erupted in the 1990s, its fury was only captured in low-quality video and photographs. Now, with state of the art software and equipment, Colima's beauty was captured in real time.

Volcano Discovery described Colima as a part of a volcanic complex and is known as the most prominent. Since 1585, it had more than 30 periods of eruptions and the most significant was in the late 1990s. But despite being very active, monitoring for scientific research has started only 20 years ago.

Colima is located at the center of the Mexican Volcanic Belt. The volcano complex itself is actually made of two volcanoes; one is Nevado de Colima to the south and Volcan de Colima to the south. Because of repeated eruptions, Colima has developed a major slope feature, sort of a perfect cone. Eruptions of Colima are often very strong with thick ash and lava flows.

Major eruptions of Colima have destroyed its summit and have left a steep and deep crater that has slowly refilled and then covered by lava dome growth. But despite Colima being dangerous, tours to observe and photograph the volcano are still being offered online. Expeditions and tours often last five to seven days to closely monitor Colima's behavior.

Meanwhile, the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center Washington has issued advisories regarding Colima's thick ash cloud; the most recent advisory was released Friday, January 20 at 5:15 AM warning residents against strong winds that may move ash for miles.