200 foot diameter hole found on the Moon's surface

And here it is ... courtesy of Japanese scientists.



The discovery is important because it suggests that our Moon, far from being the serene body we see today, has had a turbulent ... and volcanic past. The hole is believed to be the exit point for a lava tube, a channel through which lava has made its way to the surface and then has retreated back underground. The lava tube, now empty, is simply left behind as a reminder.

Here's a lava tube on earth, in Hawaii.



This discovery, made by scientists at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, could prove very important for mans colonisation of the Moon, because the lavatubes (if sufficiently large) could be used as a natural radiation shield, in which an underground lunar base could be constructed.

New Scientist

Or it could be an underground UFO launch pad ... who knows ?! Really interesting stuff. A pity Mr Lear wasn't around to give us his opinion ...

Dont you find hilarious that the most interesting findings regarding the moon are disclosed by nations who are just beggining to send stuff over there, as opposed to the multiple manned missions the US of A has done in the past?

This is amazing stuff, thanks to the Japanese, I agree with you would like to hear John's opinion.....

Super cool story!

We are learning so much interesting stuff about the Moon lately only to have Obama's team suggest that we don't go there. Curious to say the least.

Mars also has a large hole. It seems the Moon and Mars have their own Mel's hole.

www.space.com...

I still don't understand why the CIA can clearly read the side of a coke can from a spy satellite orbiting Earth, yet all we get of this mysterious hole is a blurry low res image. They must think we are complete fools.

I completely agree, for the life of me and the TONS of money they spend we get the crappy images we get. my digital camera could do better!!.

Hilarious? No, but it shows just how deceptive NASA is.

Well I don't know if spy satellites can read the side of a coke can, but they tend to be huge in size, with large optics capable of attaining higher resolutions. Probes to other planets tend to be as light weight as possible. Plus they carry a variety of other scientific instruments. Kaguya for example had 13 different instruments on board, plus two smaller satellites that it released near the Moon. I don't believe spy satellites carry x-ray, gamma ray and charged particle spectrometers, laser altimeters or magnetometers.

Comparing spy satellites to scientific ones is like comparing apples to oranges.

So, if the moon has lava tubes... then where's the lunar volcanos? Lava has to flow downhill - even in the moon's lesser gravity. Anyone see anything like an extinct volcano? And please don't say the volcanos were eroded by eons of weathering.

reply to post by Larryman

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The Moon's most active volcanic phase would've been perhaps 4.5 billion years ago, shortly after its creation. Those volcanoes may well have looked like those we see on Earth today. But during that period the Moon was still being bombarded by all manner of space junk ... which is why we don't see mountainous volcanoes with craters in the way we're accustomed. Most got blitzed out of existence.

As the volcanic activity reduced, the temperatures & flow rates dropped ... and the lava became little more than a dribble ... it didn't violently erupt, it just gently flowed along. And that's what you see today, the lunar seas are the result of basaltic lava flows, enormous lava filled plains, they're possibly 3.5 billion years old. Interestingly, only 3% of these lava flows are on the far side of the moon, it was "our side" of the moon where all this activity took place. Scientists aren't really sure why, it may be that the lunar crust on our side of the moon was thinner, making it easier for lava to break through, it may have been the gravitational effect of the Earth at that time.

This is a suspected subsurface lavatube in the Sea of Serentity (Mare Serenitatis), an image captured by Apollo 10. It's possibly up to 1500 feet wide and 2,400 feet long. It'd make a great home for a lunar base, protecting the astronauts from radiation and being less sensitive to wide temperature changes up on surface.

I hear NASA is being advised to bypass the Moon ... bad call in my book

Have the Japanese taken any pics of any of the Apollo landing sites?

[edit on 24-10-2009 by VitalOverdose]

reply to post by Ulala

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Sorry... but I don't buy the supposed coincidence of the missing lunar volcanos were obliterated by meteor impacts - especially on the Earth-facing side, which recieved the least meteor bombardment. And it's also too convienient that the metors would not have also destroyed any distant lava tubes, simply by the resulting moon-quakes from their on-going impacts.

reply to post by Larryman

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I'm all ears ; what do you think these geological structures are ?

reply to post by Ulala

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A Photoshop creation.

reply to post by Larryman

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Volcanoes are a result of volcanic activity, but they are not the source of that activity, that's why there are many places on Earth with volcanic activity or signs of ancient activity but without any volcanoes.

How is it then that amateurs can also see sinuous rilles (collapsed lava tubes)? Here's Bode Rille taken by an amateur, a sinuous rille at the bottom of the image:
www.pbase.com...

I don't want to go too far off topic, but I will just say that the Moon is still in the plans for NASA. The Augustine report still has the Moon as being apart of NASA's future plans (with Mars being the "ultimate goal"), but the return to the Moon might be delayed, depending on what they choose to do. I had been talking about it in this thread.



They have taken images of the landing sites, but the Terrain camera has a resolution of 10m/pixel, so it isn't enough to see the any of the leftover Apollo hardware.

And the pissingcontest continues...

Using the Hubble to see further and further out in space with
more and more graphical detail, when they can use it to actually
SEE whats going on at both the MOON and MARS..Is beyond me..