Giant hole and Tunel found in Mars

Explanation: What created this unusual hole in Mars? The hole was discovered by chance on images of the dusty slopes of Mars' Pavonis Mons volcano taken by the HiRISE instrument aboard the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently circling Mars. The hole appears to be an opening to an underground cavern, partly illuminated on the image right. Analysis of this and follow-up images revealed the opening to be about 35 meters across, while the interior shadow angle indicates that the underlying cavern is roughly 20 meters deep. Why there is a circular crater surrounding this hole remains a topic of speculation, as is the full extent of the underlying cavern. Holes such as this are of particular interest because their interior caves are relatively protected from the harsh surface of Mars, making them relatively good candidates to contain Martian life. These pits are therefore prime targets for possible future spacecraft, robots, and even human interplanetary explorers.

apod.nasa.gov...

Mod Edit: External Source Tags Instructions – Please Review This Link.

Mod Note: Starting A New Thread – Please Review Link

AboveTopSecret.com takes pride in making every post count. Please do not create minimal posts to start your new thread. If you feel inclined to make the board aware of news, current events, or important information from other sites, please post one or two paragraphs, a link to the entire story, and your opinion on the information as a means to inspire discussion or collaborative research on your subject.

reply to post by Apleness



It kinda reminds me of the Movie Pitch Black with Vin Desael. where alien bugs live underground, only come out when its dark and are heat seeking.

reply to post by Apleness


Good post ! Thank you....

Something probably crawls out of their or flys out of their. Maybe under all that rock and ice there is a big underground Dome city. but who know's unless....i travel their myself

Looks like an eyeball.

I thought Mars was red...

Very cool!

But probably belongs in Space Exploration and not Aliens and UFOs.

let the countdown to the goofy-haired-history-channel-guy meme appearance begin

Originally posted by jam321
Looks like an eyeball.

I thought Mars was red...

They use different color filters for many planet pictures so that some features can be seen better and for other reasons.

Originally posted by jam321
Looks like an eyeball.

I thought Mars was red...

That's what I said! Lol.

Is that a reflection of the skies I see inside the tunnel? If YES, does it contain water or ice?

Wow it's the Sarlacc pit!
Seriously though, that is really cool. And you can see room for a cave beneath it.

Its a crashed saucer covered in ice whos top has caved in and is now inside the craft still covered in ice.

Originally posted by hp1229
Is that a reflection of the skies I see inside the tunnel? If YES, does it contain water or ice?

That was my first thought also, water or ice. Although a massive cave system for future exploration is very interesting also, if we're going to find life deep beneath the surface of Mars, a giant hole saves us lots of work getting to it.

Pavonis Mons

This is a cropped version of a HiRISE image of a lava tube skylight on the martian volcano Pavonis Mons. The original caption for the photo on the HiRISE web site is as follows:
Earlier this year, the CTX camera team saw a crater containing a dark spot on the dusty slopes of the Pavonis Mons volcano. We took a closer look at this feature with HiRISE and found this unusual geologic feature.

The dark spot turned out to be a "skylight," an opening to an underground cavern, that is 35 meters (115 feet) across. Caves often form in volcanic regions like this when lava flows solidify on top, but keep flowing underneath their solid crust. These, now underground, rivers of lava can then drain away leaving the tube they flowed through empty. We can use the shadow cast on the floor of the pit to calculate that it is about 20 meters (65 feet) deep.

The origin of the larger hole that this pit is within is still obscure. You can see areas where material on the walls has slid into the pit. How much of the missing material has disappeared via the pit into the underground cavern?



^ thats what wiki has to say about it. guess this photo isnt thaaat new


edit to add I guess that wont let me direct link but if you wiki Pavonis Mons and look at the bottom of the page and click the picture it will take you there

There is no context to this image, I am confused about it's place in the martian environment.

The page with all the different color versions and views on the surroundings of this hole:
hirise.lpl.arizona.edu...

reply to post by readytorevolt



Thank you, if what wiki says is true, then it has thrown a lot more light onto the situation.

Quite obvious from this:

reply to post by Apleness


It looks like an old volcano to me.

Not a natural hole. some1 or something made this. intriguing

Hmm...Looking at the texture of the sides of the hole, it appears to be relatively smooth. I would have guess it was made with some kind of tool, but then I noted about how it was 35 meters wide...Interesting indeed.

Alien life or no, I'd quite like to see what's down there. It's sure to be fascinating one way or the other.