NASA Orbiter Finds Possible Cave Skylights on Mars

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has discovered entrances to seven possible caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano. The find is fueling interest in potential underground habitats and sparking searches for caverns elsewhere on the Red Planet.

Very dark, nearly circular features ranging in diameter from about 100 to 250 meters (328 to 820 feet) puzzled researchers who found them in images taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor orbiters. Using Mars Odyssey's infrared camera to check the daytime and nighttime temperatures of the circles, scientists concluded that they could be windows into underground spaces.

Source: www.nasa.gov...

Could these possibly be the caves of past life on mars? Pretty cool that Nasa is actually showing this.

Good find.
Wouldn't it be Ironic if this ended up "proving" that life was/is on mars, and John never noticed these circles? Did he point them out in 200 pages of other "artifacts and structures"?

Seven very dark holes on the north slope of a Martian volcano have been proposed as possible cave skylights, based on day-night temperature patterns suggesting they are openings to subsurface spaces. These six excerpts of images taken in visible-wavelength light by the Thermal Emission Imaging System camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter show the seven openings. Solar illumination comes from the left in each frame. The volcano is Arsia Mons, at 9 degrees south latitude, 239 degrees east longitude.

The features have been given informal names to aid comparative discussion. They range in diameter from about 100 meters (328 feet) to about 225 meters (738 feet). The candidate cave skylights are (A) "Dena," (B) "Chloe," (C) "Wendy," (D) "Annie," (E) "Abby" (left) and "Nikki," and (F) "Jeanne." Arrows signify north and the direction of illumination.

Full res here:
www.nasa.gov...

Source:
www.nasa.gov...

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/USGS

Each of the three images in this set covers the same patch of Martian ground, centered on a possible cave skylight informally called "Annie," which has a diameter about double the length of a football field. The Thermal Emission Imaging System camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter took all three, gathering information that the hole is cooler than surrounding surface in the afternoon and warmer than the surrounding surface at night. This is thermal behavior that would be expected from an opening into an underground space.

The left image was taken in visible-wavelength light. The other two were taken in thermal infrared wavelengths, indicating the relative temperatures of features in the image. The center image is from mid-afternoon. The hole is warmer than the shadows of nearby pits to the north and south, while cooler than sunlit surfaces. The thermal image at right was taken in the pre-dawn morning, about 4 a.m. local time. At that hour, the hole is warmer than all nearby surfaces.

Annie and six other features with similar thermal behavior are on the northern slope of a high Martian volcano named Arsia Mons, which is at 9 degrees south latitude, 239 degrees east longitude.

Source:

www.nasa.gov...

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/USGS


[edit on 22/9/2007 by internos]

Originally posted by Kozz28
Could these possibly be the caves of past life on mars? Pretty cool that Nasa is actually showing this.

Good spotting, even if you "scooped' us Stars and flagged

We have been discussing these holes in Bluebird's "Forest on Mars?" thread when HiRISE released this image on May 8th 2007...



There are many interesting facets to NASA's announcements regarding these 'Holes"

1) They called them "caves" almost from the beginning...

2) They named the group of seven 'holes' or 'caves' the "Seven Sisters' an allusion to the Pleiads star cluster...

3) This recent press release that Koss28 posted

What is significant in this press release is this

A report of the discovery of the possible CAVE SKYLIGHTS by Cushing and his co-authors was published online recently by the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

"Whether these are just deep vertical shafts or openings into spacious caverns, they are entries to the subsurface of Mars," said co-author Tim Titus of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff. "Somewhere on Mars, caves might provide a protected niche for PAST OR CURRENT LIFE, or shelter for humans in the future."

The discovered holes, dubbed "Seven Sisters," are at some of the highest altitudes on the planet, on a volcano named Arsia Mons near Mars' tallest mountain.

NEWS RELEASE

This is an official paper by the USGS and NASA stating that..

"Somewhere on Mars, caves might provide a protected niche for PAST OR CURRENT LIFE

This is a major switch in tactics...

We need to watch this very closely

[edit on 22-9-2007 by zorgon]

[edit on 22-9-2007 by zorgon]

I've found an article here dated may 23, 2007 (?):

By Emily Lakdawalla
Windows onto the abyss: cave skylights on MarsMay. 23, 2007 | 10:57 PDT | 17:57 UTC

Weblog ArchiveToday's set of image releases from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE team included this one, of a fairly bland-looking lava plain to the northeast of Arsia Mons. Bland, that is, except for a black spot in the center. What's that black spot? It's a window onto an underground world.

Click below to read more
www.planetary.org...

Full size

[edit on 22/9/2007 by internos]

Sorry I found it just before you did...

The original thread is HERE posted by bestideayet

HUGE HOLE on Mars Surface! Deep Abyss?

There was a second thread but it was closed because of duplication..

www.abovetopsecret.com...

But there was one image worth looking at taken later...




The original link was

The Planetary Society

But the new data is astounding... We need to follow updates...

Here is a statement from HiRise from the first image released that is a VERY IMPORTANT ADMISSION

The pit must be very deep to prevent detection of the floor from skylight, which is quite bright on Mars.[/]

VERY BRIGHT?

And all this time they have been showing us dark red skys...

[edit on 22-9-2007 by zorgon]

This was posted by fiftyfifty in the other thread...here

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Interesting!!
I guess these holes can occur naturally.

reply to post by zorgon


Hi Zorgon,
Your photo shows sides to the hole, the NASA photo's look like they have been 'Blacked out' !!
Emily Lakdawalla asks questions about it on her blog,

The hope for the HiRISE images was that we could see some details from inside the hole. But as you can see by the highly stretched version at right, there is absolutely nothing visible inside that hole. It's black black black black black.

www.planetary.org...

If 'Annie' is the size of 2 football fields as estimated, imagine what size of craft could fly in and out of there!
Great works guys!

reply to post by Havalon


The sides on the hole are from HiRise... they did a second pass over it when the sun was at an angle... but as you can see on the Gautemala one it has sides for a short distance and then nothing. I never got any data on how deep it was but they were afraid more might fall in.


LOL Maybe the Earth and Mars are hollow afterall

Originally posted by zorgon
reply to post by Havalon


The sides on the hole are from HiRise... they did a second pass over it when the sun was at an angle... but as you can see on the Gautemala one it has sides for a short distance and then nothing. I never got any data on how deep it was but they were afraid more might fall in.


LOL Maybe the Earth and Mars are hollow afterall

Okay! I'll bite!!

More what might fall in?
Oh! and just what we need another hollow 'death star'!!
There goes the neighbourhood !!!

Seriously though, the angle from the HiRise on your photo is different than the one looking straight down the hole. Therefore one might consider it a 'safe shot' - nothing to see here! - whereas the other looks straight down the hole,

I can see the 'art dept' working their magic!
"Maybe we oughta black that sucker out Leon! you can see the machinery down there!"
"No problem Phil, now where did I put the 'Indian Ink?"





[edit on 24-9-2007 by Havalon]

...does anyone notice how perfectly round the hole(s) is/are? It almost seems like something could of smashed into the surface like a satellite or asteroid/ / / /

Originally posted by Havalon
"Maybe we oughta black that sucker out Leon! you can see the machinery down there!"
"No problem Phil, now where did I put the 'Indian Ink?"

Funny you should say that...




Highlighted for detail



Original MALIN Image M0303865

So? Just a meteorid impact. Check our moon, there you can find plenty of so-called "caves". Do you really think there is life on such a deadly atmosphere like Mars? I doubt it strongly.

reply to post by mallory-john


Well, go find me one then!,

I have NEVER seen images of caves on the moon and so have you. So don't talk like they've been there for ever.

And how would you know there isn't any life, where you there when it ended?

What i would like to is where are these so called "caves" located?, cause this kinda looks like they found something there wich they don't want us to know about.

C'mon it looks so crisp and clear. my gut tells me these aren't caves, they just blacked it out.

If this is a natural occurance, wouldn't these "holes" look a bit like a volcano or atleast have some natural edges? This looks fabricated.




[edit on 4-10-2007 by PureET]

[edit on 4-10-2007 by PureET]

Originally posted by zorgon
This was posted by fiftyfifty in the other thread...here

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Wow - Earth sucks!! who knew?

Caves on Mars must of been made through either volcanic or water, something about the roundness of the 'skylights' makes me think a very large amount of water over a very long time has caused the series of caves, and these skylights are where the ground has caved in on cavity's that are particularly close to the surface. Imagine the grand canyon with a stone roof and a few holes in it, that would be very cool.

I know i'm not a NASA scientist (im happy though)

But these holes are nowhere to be found on the regular maps of Mars.

This fishy stinks!

Originally posted by mallory-john
So? Just a meteorid impact. Check our moon, there you can find plenty of so-called "caves". Do you really think there is life on such a deadly atmosphere like Mars? I doubt it strongly.

Well then, dear Sir, perhaps you should Google NASA life on Mars caves. Sorry, I am not supplying a link today.

Originally posted by Now_Then

Wow - Earth sucks!! who knew?

Three missing people had lived in a house that fell into the hole. Neighbors said the ground had been shaking for weeks...

I think I would have moved if my house was shaking for two week