Scientists have for the first time discovered a cave on the Moon. Lorenzo Bruzzone and Leonardo Carrer at the University of Trento in Italy found the cave by using radar to penetrate the opening of a pit on a rocky plain called the Mare Tranquillitatis.
- The cave is visible to the naked eye from Earth. It is not far from where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed (Apollo 11) in 1969. Mare Tranquillitatis or the Sea of Tranquility was where the first humans on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11, touched down in 1969.
- Researchers analyzed radar measurements by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and compared the results with lava tubes on Earth.
- The radar data reveals only the initial part of the underground cavity. Scientists estimate it’s at least 130 feet (40 meters) wide and tens of yards (meters) long, probably more.
- The cave has a skylight on the Moon’s surface, leading down to vertical and overhanging walls, and a sloping floor that might extend further underground.
- It was made millions or billions of years ago when lava flowed on the Moon, creating a tunnel through the rock.
