A group of 7-year-old students in California, USA discovered a mysterious cave on Mars when participating in a project to study images taken by a NASA spacecraft around the ' Red Planet '.
16 students from Evergreen School in Cottonwood, California, found a point that seems to be Mars's " window " - actually the mouth of a cave on Mars.
This group of students is participating in a program to study Mars images for students at the ' Red Planet ' research center at Arizona State University. The program allows students to ask questions and then control a camera operating around Mars to take pictures to answer questions.
The new cave was discovered similar to the holes seen on other areas of Mars in a study by American scientist Glen Cushing in 2007.
Cushing said these unusually giant craters are like rooftop windows - where a portion of the upper surface of caves or lava tubes subsides, creating a crater .
The caves are believed to form due to volcanic activity on " Red planet ". The lines of jelly seemed to have created large caves in the rocky ground, and formed tunnels or ' lava tubes ' when the eruption ended. The surface of these caves can then collapse, creating craters.
However, scientists are not sure what craters contain substances or compounds inside .
Mr. Cushing estimated the cave mouth that the students found 190x160m wide and at least 115m deep.
Initially, young researchers aim to find lava tubes - a consequence of the volcanic activity commonly seen on Earth and Mars.
' Mars ' research program is one of the most exciting educational programs ever developed, ' said teacher Dennis Mitchell. ' The program helps students understand how research is conducted and why studies are important to the scientific community. This is an interesting experience . '
Mysterious cave mouth on Mars.
