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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsStart with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Pits atlas to find documented lunar pits. Then locate a site in LROC QuickMap and compare available images taken under different lighting and viewing angles. A pit is a visible surface opening; calling it a cave requires additional evidence of an underground void or passage.
Find a documented pit
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Open the LROC Pits atlas and choose a named entry. Keep the entry and its image identifiers with your notes so you can trace your observations to the source images. The atlas is a collection of pit images and map resources, not a list of caves confirmed to have been explored.
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Open LROC QuickMap to place the feature in its broader lunar setting. NASA describes QuickMap as a customizable browser-based mapping and analysis tool with data from past and present lunar spacecraft. Use it to examine whether the pit lies in a mare, near a rille, or in highland terrain; available controls and layer names may change, so follow the live interface rather than relying on an old click-by-click guide.
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Record the site name and image identifiers, plus any stated viewing angle or illumination conditions. Those details help distinguish what the image directly shows from what you infer.
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Compare images with different lighting and viewing angles
One image rarely shows every useful feature. A high-Sun image can illuminate a pit floor and boulders, while a low-Sun view makes relief and shadows easier to see. An oblique image can reveal a wall overhang or a portion of the space beneath it that a near-overhead view may hide.
For each view, note whether the floor, wall layering, shadow, or overhang is visible. Compare images of the same site when possible, but do not treat a different appearance as proof of a changing feature: illumination and camera geometry can change what is visible.
Distinguish a pit from evidence of a cave
A pit is an observable surface feature. “Skylight” suggests an opening into an underground void, and “cave” implies a subsurface passage. Use the more specific terms only when the evidence supports them. NASA reported in 2014 that more than 200 steep-walled lunar holes had been found, while noting that only some might lead to caves; the count refers to holes, not confirmed caves (NASA, 2014).
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Surface imagery: supports calling a feature a pit and can show its rim, walls, floor, and shadows.
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An overhang or visible void: is stronger evidence of a subsurface space, but does not by itself reveal a cave’s full size or route.
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Radar evidence: can support an interpretation of underground continuation that ordinary optical imagery cannot show.
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Thermal analysis: can describe temperature conditions at studied locations, but does not map a cave.
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Use Mare Tranquillitatis as a worked example
What the optical image shows
NASA’s 2010 Mare Tranquillitatis pit image is 400 meters wide. NASA gives a 26.5-degree incidence angle and a 55-meter shadow, from which it estimates a pit depth a little over 100 meters (328 feet), measured from the shadow edge. From the surrounding mare plain, the depth is greater. The reported width is 100 to 115 meters (328 to 377 feet). These are image-based surface dimensions, not measurements of the underground conduit.
What radar adds
In July 2024, NASA described a re-analysis of LRO Mini-RF radar data collected in 2010 that found evidence of a cave extending more than 200 feet from the pit base (NASA, 2024). This is radar evidence for an underground continuation; it is not a complete exploration or map of the cave.
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Check oblique views at Marius Hills
NASA’s Sublunarean Void image shows an oblique LROC view of the Marius Hills pit. Its viewing angle reveals an overhang, and the camera imaged a few meters beneath it, showing a void. The image demonstrates why oblique views matter, but it does not establish the full size or length of a cave.
The LROC Lunar Pits gallery also describes a Mare Tranquillitatis view made with the spacecraft turned 45 degrees. It says the floor extends at least 25 meters beneath the surface—an image-based observation of an undercut, not a complete cave map.
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NASA’s 2022 account of a study using Diviner data and computer modeling reports temperatures near 63°F (about 17°C) in shaded locations within the studied pits (NASA, 2022). This finding applies to those modeled settings; it does not establish a universal temperature for lunar caves or show the shape of an underground passage.
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Make a defensible site comparison
When comparing candidate sites, keep observations and interpretations separate. A concise record can include:
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Direct surface evidence: pit rim, walls, floor, shadow, boulders, or visible overhang.
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Image geometry: image identifier, viewing angle, and illumination conditions when stated.
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Dimensions: the method used, the reference surface, and whether a figure describes the visible pit or an inferred subsurface feature.
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Independent evidence: whether radar or thermal analysis exists, and exactly what that analysis supports.
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Confidence language: say “pit” for the surface opening, “possible skylight” when an opening into a void is inferred, and “evidence for a cave” when a specific observation supports an underground continuation.
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