@anderson_joshuaThe Darvaza Gas Crater may not be around forever, and that's the part worth sitting with. Locals and travellers know it better as the Door to Hell, a burning pit in Turkmenistan's Karakum Desert that measures roughly 70 meters (230 feet) across, and the fire has nothing volcanic about it. No molten lava waits below. Combustible gas rises through the ground and feeds the flames, which is how a hole in a quiet, remote stretch of desert ends up glowing like a gateway to somewhere else. Where it came from is less settled than the nickname lets on. Most accounts point to Soviet-era gas exploration, but the exact circumstances and the date are still uncertain. The story that gets repeated most: someone lit it on purpose to get rid of gas leaking out, figuring the blaze would be temporary. Decades on, it's still burning. What could actually end it is the gas itself. Work aimed at cutting how much of it comes up has reportedly made the flames weaker in recent years, which raises the possibility that the whole sight may eventually disappear. A fire nobody planned, in a place most people will never reach, might go out for good. So: would you stand at the edge of the Door to Hell, or admire it from a safe distance? Genuinely torn. The images are artistic recreations of the Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan.

@anderson_joshuaThe Darvaza Gas Crater may not be around forever, and that's the part worth sitting with. Locals and travellers know it better as the Door to Hell, a burning pit in Turkmenistan's Karakum Desert that measures roughly 70 meters (230 feet) across, and the fire has nothing volcanic about it. No molten lava waits below. Combustible gas rises through the ground and feeds the flames, which is how a hole in a quiet, remote stretch of desert ends up glowing like a gateway to somewhere else. Where it came from is less settled than the nickname lets on. Most accounts point to Soviet-era gas exploration, but the exact circumstances and the date are still uncertain. The story that gets repeated most: someone lit it on purpose to get rid of gas leaking out, figuring the blaze would be temporary. Decades on, it's still burning. What could actually end it is the gas itself. Work aimed at cutting how much of it comes up has reportedly made the flames weaker in recent years, which raises the possibility that the whole sight may eventually disappear. A fire nobody planned, in a place most people will never reach, might go out for good. So: would you stand at the edge of the Door to Hell, or admire it from a safe distance? Genuinely torn. The images are artistic recreations of the Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan.