Saturday, June 19, 2010

Seventh graders discover 'cave' on Mars

A group of 16 seventh-grade students have found a cave on Mars using the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) camera aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.  The schoolgoers were using the THEMIS to find lava tubes on the Red Plant when they came across a small black feature straddling one of the tubes.  The feature, identified as a cave or "skylight", near the Pavonis Mons volcano was a hole, punched in the top of a hollow tube.  The students, from Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, California, were participating in the Mars Student Imaging Program (MSIP), a part of Arizona State University's Mars Education Program.

Full article: http://www.discoveryon.info/2010/06/students-discover-cave-on-red-planet.html