7th-Graders Discover Mysterious Cave on Mars

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100621/sc_space/7thgradersdiscovermysteriouscaveonmars;_ylt=ApWVwTj8G6gMXTvsViE4wuqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTRlOHJnOHNnBGFzc2V0A3NwYWNlLzIwMTAwNjIxLzd0aGdyYWRlcnNkaXNjb3Zlcm15c3RlcmlvdXNjYXZlb25tYXJzBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMTAEcG9zAzcEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawM3dGgtZ3JhZGVyc2Q-

Clara Moskowitz
Senior Writer
SPACE.com clara Moskowitz
senior Writer
space.com – Mon Jun 21, 5:00 pm ET

A group of seventh-graders in California has discovered a mysterious cave on Mars as part of a research project to study images taken by a NASA spacecraft orbiting the red planet.

The 16 students from teacher Dennis Mitchell's 7th-grade science class at Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, Calif., found what looks to be a Martian skylight — a hole in the roof of a cave on Mars.

The intrepid students were participating in the Mars Student Imaging Program at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University. The program allows students to frame a research question and then commission a Mars-orbiting camera to take an image to answer their question.

The newfound hole on Mars resembled features seen on other parts of Mars in a 2007 study by Glen Cushing, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist.


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