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Caves of the Moon

Posted by Soulskill on from the and-the-horrors-that-lurk-within dept.

jeno passes along this excerpt from New Scientist: "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 hole measures 65 meters across, and based on images taken at a variety of sun angles, the hole is thought to extend down at least 80 meters. It sits in the middle of a rille, suggesting the hole leads into a lava tube as wide as 370 meters across."

3 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Weird. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    No goatse mention? What's happened to this place?

  2. Re:Just to get it out of the way ... by internic · · Score: 0, Troll

    I doubt that, but it's quite possible that that cavern is not entirely stable. ;-)

    --
    "You call it a new way of thinking; I call it regression to ignorance!" -- Operation Ivy
  3. Lava, on The Moon, really? by prometx42 · · Score: 0, Troll

    At what point has there been postulated to have been volcanism on the moon in it's past, or would that be a hold over from the theory that The Moon is actually a former piece of The Earth that was ejected from it's mass by some super duper early on catastrophe? Which would, I suppose, explain it.

    Or, if there that theory isn't the going favorite, how would "lava tubes" have formed on the moon without, you know, molten core volcanism, etc.? Might we not be looking at some other mechanism? Anyone know anything about that? That supposition just struck me as kind of odd.