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Junior High Teens Uncover Cave on Mars

by Caleb Johnson on June 23, 2010 at 07:25 AM

Students discovered a cave on Mars.A group of 13-year-old scientists from Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, California recently discovered a hole in the roof of a Martian cave, only the second pit located near the Pavonis Mons volcano. Arizona State University's Mars Student Imaging Program lets students create science projects and commission cameras aboard the Mars Odyssey orbiter in order to snap shots of the Red Planet's surface.

The students were investigating the concentration of lava tubes on the Martian surface, and, after studying hundreds of photos taken by the thermal imaging camera, noticed a mysterious black dot. U.S. Geological Survey scientist Glen Cushing explained that it was actually a 380-foot deep pit (620-by-520-feet wide) that may have been created after a cave's roof collapsed. The students may soon get a better look at the cave, which is thought to have been created from ancient volcanic activity, with higher resolution images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). A geological discovery on another planet isn't bad for a bunch of kids who can't even legally drive. [From: Arizona State University and Space.com, via: MSNBC]

Tags: asu, glen cushing, GlenCushing, mars, MarsReconnaissanceOrbitor, MarsStudentImagingProgram, NASA, PavonisMons, photos, research, science, space, students, top, usgs

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