LRO Takes Closer Look at Moon Caves

By Nancy Atkinson - September 15, 2010 at 9:35 AM UTC | Planetary Science
Lunar-pit-1.jpg

As promised, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is taking more detailed looks at the lunar pits, or lava tubes that have been discovered by LRO and the Kaguya spacecraft. These are deep holes on the moon that could open into vast underground tunnels, and could serve as a safe, radiation shielding habitats for future human lunar explorers. Plus, they are just plain intriguing! This image of a pit found in the Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquillitatis) was taken as the Sun was almost straight overhead, illuminating the region. By comparing this image with previous images that have different lighting, scientists can estimate the depth of the pit. They believe it to be over 100 meters!

See more "in-depth" look at more of the caves on the Moon, below:

[caption id="attachment_73661" align="aligncenter" width="600"]

Two views of Mare Ingenii pit Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.[/caption]

These two images show a pit in Mare Ingenii, which reveal different portions of the floor as the Sun crosses from west to east. Again, by measuring the shadows in different lighting, the Sea of Cleverness pit appears to be about 70 meters deep and about 120 meters wide.

These long, winding lava tubes are like structures we have on Earth. They are created when the top of a stream of molten rock solidifies and the lava inside drains away, leaving a hollow tube of rock. There have been hints that the Moon had lava tubes based on observations of long, winding depressions carved into the lunar surface by the flow of lava, called sinuous rilles.

If a human geologist could ever climb down inside these tubes on the Moon, we could learn so much about the Moon's history, and sort of travel back in time by studying the different layers on the Moon, just like we do on Earth.

[caption id="attachment_73662" align="aligncenter" width="600"]

Three views of the Marius Hills pit. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

[/caption]

LROC has now imaged the Marius Hills pit three times, each time with very different lighting. The center view has an incidence angle of 25° that illuminates about three-quarters of the floor. The Marius pit is about 34 meters deep and 65 by 90 meters wide.

Read more about the

Ingenii

,

Tranquillitatis

, and

Marius

pits at the LROC website, and you can search the nearby area for clues in the

full LROC NAC frame

that may help determine if an extended lava tube system still exists beneath the surface.

Source:

LROC website

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com