Planets

Possible lunar lava tube skylight observed by SELENE cameras

  1. Junichi Haruyama1,
  2. Kazuyuki Hioki2,
  3. Motomaro Shirao3,
  4. Tomokatsu Morota1,
  5. Harald Hiesinger4,
  6. Carolyn H. van der Bogert4,
  7. Hideaki Miyamoto5,
  8. Akira Iwasaki6,
  9. Yasuhiro Yokota1,
  10. Makiko Ohtake1,
  11. Tsuneo Matsunaga7,
  12. Seiichi Hara2,
  13. Shunsuke Nakanotani8,
  14. Carle M. Pieters9

Article first published online: 12 NOV 2009

DOI: 10.1029/2009GL040635

Issue

Geophysical Research Letters

Geophysical Research Letters

Additional Information

How to Cite

Haruyama, J., et al. (2009), Possible lunar lava tube skylight observed by SELENE cameras, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L21206, doi:10.1029/2009GL040635.

Author Information

  1. 1

    ISAS, JAXA, Sagamihara, Japan

  2. 2

    NTT DATA CCS Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

  3. 3

    Tokyo, Japan

  4. 4

    Institut für Planetologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany

  5. 5

    University Museum, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

  6. 6

    Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

  7. 7

    Center for Global Environmental Research, NIES, Tsukuba, Japan

  8. 8

    Mitsubishi Space Software Co., Ltd., Tsukuba, Japan

  9. 9

    Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 12 NOV 2009
  2. Article first published online: 12 NOV 2009
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 13 OCT 2009
  4. Manuscript Revised: 7 OCT 2009
  5. Manuscript Received: 20 AUG 2009

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Keywords:

  • Moon;
  • lavatube;
  • sinuous rille

[1] We discovered a vertical hole on the Moon, which is a possible lava tube skylight, using data from SELENE's two high-resolution cameras: the Terrain Camera and the Multi-band Imager. The hole is nearly circular, 65 m in diameter, and located in a sinuous rille at the Marius Hills region, a volcanic province on the lunar nearside. We observed the hole at various solar illumination conditions and estimated its depth to be 80 to 88 m. The depth/diameter ratio is much larger than for typical impact craters. There are neither conspicuous deposits indicating volcanic eruptions from the hole, nor are there pit craters adjacent to the hole that could be related to an underlying fault or dike. The area around the hole is covered by a thin (20 to 25 m) lava sheet, which may help protect the lava tube from collapse due to meteorite bombardment.

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