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| Dirk Bruere at NeoPax... |
 Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:44 am |
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http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18030-found-first-skylight-on-the-moon.html
A deep hole on the moon that could open into a vast underground tunnel
has been found for the first time. The discovery strengthens evidence
for subsurface, lava-carved channels that could shield future human
colonists from space radiation and other hazards.
The moon seems to possess long, winding tunnels called lava tubes that
are similar to structures seen 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.
Their existence on the moon is hinted at based on observations of
sinuous rilles – long, winding depressions carved into the lunar surface
by the flow of lava. Some sections of the rilles have collapsed,
suggesting that hollow lava tubes hide beneath at least some of the rilles.
But until now, no one has found an opening into what appears to be an
intact tube. "There's sort of a chicken-and-egg problem," says Carolyn
van der Bogert of the University of Münster in Germany. "If it's intact,
you can't see it."
Finding a hole in a rille could suggest that an intact tube lies
beneath. So a group led by Junichi Haruyama of the Japanese Aerospace
Exploration Agency searched for these "skylights" in images taken by
Japan's Kaguya spacecraft, which orbited the moon for almost two years
before ending its mission in June.
Deep cave
The team found the first candidate skylight in a volcanic area on the
moon's near side called Marius Hills. "This is the first time that
anybody's actually identified a skylight in a possible lava tube" on the
moon, van der Bogert, who helped analyse the feature, told New Scientist.
The hole measures 65 metres across, and based on images taken at a
variety of sun angles, the the hole is thought to extend down at least
80 metres. It sits in the middle of a rille, suggesting the hole leads
into a lava tube as wide as 370 metres across.
It is not clear exactly how the hole formed. A meteorite impact,
moonquakes, or pressure created by gravitational tugs from the Earth
could be to blame. Alternatively, part of the lava tube's ceiling could
have been pulled off as lava in the tube drained away billions of years ago.
Radiation shield
Finding such an opening could be a boon for possible human exploration
of the moon (see What NASA's return to the moon may look like).
Since the tubes may be hundreds of metres wide, they could provide
plenty of space for an underground lunar outpost. The tubes' ceilings
could protect astronauts from space radiation, meteoroid impacts and
wild temperature fluctuations (see Can high-tech cavemen live on the moon?).
"I think it's really exciting," says Penny Boston of the New Mexico
Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro. "Basalt is an extremely
good material for radiation protection. It's free real estate ready to
be exploited and modified for human use."
Blocked passage?
But even if astronauts were to rappel into the hole, they might not be
able to travel far into the tube it appears to lead into. "I would bet a
lot of money that there's a tube there, but I would not bet nearly so
much that we could gain access to the tube," says Ray Hawke of the
University of Hawaii at Manoa, who has also hunted for lunar lava tubes.
Rubble or solidified lava might block up the tube. "It could be closed
up and inaccessible," Hawke told New Scientist.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which should be able to snap
images of the area that are at least 10 times as sharp, could help
reveal more about the hole. And more lava tube openings may be found.
The Kaguya team is still combing over images of other areas in search of
additional skylights. And Hawke says a proposal is in the works to use
LRO's main camera to snap oblique shots of the lunar surface. This could
help reveal cave entrances that are not visible in a bird's-eye view.
Journal reference: Geophysical Research Letters (in press)
FFF
Dirk
http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK
http://www.theconsensus.org/ - A UK political party
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onetribe - Occult Talk Show |
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