Click to enlarge > Cave entrance on the flank of Arsia Mons In this HiRISE image captured on May 7, 2007, a black spot mars the flank of Arsia Mons. The spot is most likely a skylight onto a subterranean cavern. Credit: NASA / JPL / U. Arizona |
Click to enlarge > Possible cave entrances on Mars Seven dark spots seen in Mars Odyssey THEMIS images could be the entrances to underground caves on Mars. The researchers who identified these caves have given them the following names: Dena (-6.084 N, 239.061 E) Chloe (-4.926 N, 239.193 E) Wendy (-8.099 N, 240.242 E) Annie (-6.267 N, 240.005 E) Abbey & Nikki (-8.498 N, 240.349 E) Jeanne (-5.636 N, 241.259 E) Credit: NASA / JPL / U. Arizona / G. Cushing et al. 2007 |
Click to enlarge > Cave entrance on the flank of Arsia Mons At its highest resolution of 25 centimeters per pixel, the HiRISE camera can see the detailed shape of the slightly scalloped edge of a hole on the flank of Mars' Arsia Mons (left), but no amount of image enhancement (right) can bring out any further details inside the hole. That means that the walls of the cave are overhanging -- the cave is larger below the ground than the entrance we can see at the surface -- and that it is very deep. Mars' dusty atmosphere produces enough scattered light that "skylight" would illuminate the floor of a shallow cavern well enough for HiRISE to detect it. Credit: NASA / JPL / U. Arizona |
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