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Blue Pool Untouched by Humans Discovered in Deep Cave in the US

This cave pool, found in the Lechuguilla Cave of New Mexico, appears to be completely pristine. It was discovered in October at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. MAX WISSHAK PHOTO/CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK
This cave pool, found in the Lechuguilla Cave of New Mexico, appears to be completely pristine. It was discovered in October at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. MAX WISSHAK PHOTO/CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK
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Blue Pool Untouched by Humans Discovered in Deep Cave in the US

This cave pool, found in the Lechuguilla Cave of New Mexico, appears to be completely pristine. It was discovered in October at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. MAX WISSHAK PHOTO/CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK
This cave pool, found in the Lechuguilla Cave of New Mexico, appears to be completely pristine. It was discovered in October at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. MAX WISSHAK PHOTO/CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK

Explorers have discovered a pool in a deep cave in a US park. Pictures show the "wondrous" blue pool - never before been seen by human eyes - that was found in the depths of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, USA.

The alien-like pool contains milky aquamarine liquid, surrounded by white frosted rock, the Kansas City Star reports. According to the Daily Mirror, it is believed that the cave has evolved over thousands of years and has been completely untouched by humans.

Rodney Horrocks, chief of natural and cultural resources at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, said "This pool has been isolated for hundreds of thousands of years and had never seen light before that day."

The eerie discovery was made 700ft below the entrance of Lechuguilla Cave, one of the 10 longest caves in the world. Although it was discovered in 1993, explorers only entered its "virgin" passages for the first time in October.

Posting news of the discovery on Facebook, geoscientist Max Wisshak said: "Exploration in caves sometimes yields wondrous sights. This cave pool, found in Lechuguilla Cave, appears to be completely pristine."

"The edges beneath this pool appear to be pool fingers, which could be bacterial colonies that have evolved entirely without human presence," he added. The expedition, led by Wisshak, involved mapping out 1.3 miles of passages and multiple rope drops. It is not known when the cave network was formed.

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NASA's Lucy Spacecraft Is Speeding toward Another Close Encounter with an Asteroid

This image from video animation provided by NASA in October 2022 depicts the Lucy spacecraft. (NASA via AP)
This image from video animation provided by NASA in October 2022 depicts the Lucy spacecraft. (NASA via AP)
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NASA's Lucy Spacecraft Is Speeding toward Another Close Encounter with an Asteroid

This image from video animation provided by NASA in October 2022 depicts the Lucy spacecraft. (NASA via AP)
This image from video animation provided by NASA in October 2022 depicts the Lucy spacecraft. (NASA via AP)

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will swoop past a small asteroid this weekend as it makes its way to an even bigger prize: the unexplored swarms of asteroids out near Jupiter.

It will be the second asteroid encounter for Lucy, launched in 2021 on a quest that will take it to 11 space rocks. The close approaches should help scientists better understand our early solar system when planets were forming; asteroids are the ancient leftovers.

The upcoming flyby is a dress rehearsal for 2027 when Lucy reaches its first so-called Trojan asteroid near Jupiter.

Cranking up its three science instruments, the spacecraft on Sunday will observe the harmless asteroid known as Donaldjohanson. The encounter will take place 139 million miles (223 million kilometers) from Earth in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, so far away it will take 12 minutes for each bit of data to reach flight controllers in Colorado.

The paleontologist for whom the asteroid is named plans to be at spacecraft builder and operator Lockheed Martin’s Mission Control for all the action. He discovered the fossil Lucy in Ethiopia 50 years ago; the spacecraft is named after the famous human ancestor.

NASA’s Lucy will venture as close as 596 miles (960 kilometers) to this asteroid, an estimated 2 ½ miles (4 kilometers) in length but much shorter in width. Scientists should have a better idea of its size and shape following the brief visit. The spacecraft will zoom by at more than 30,000 mph (48,000 kph).

The asteroid is among countless fragments believed to have resulted from a major collision 150 million years ago.

“It's not going to be a basic potato. We already know that,” said lead scientist Hal Levison of Southwest Research Institute.

Rather, Levison said the asteroid may resemble a bowling pin or even a snowman like Arrokoth, the Kuiper Belt object visited by NASA's New Horizon spacecraft in 2019. The other possibility is that there are two elongated but separate asteroids far apart.

“We don’t know what to expect. That’s what makes this so cool,” he said.

There will be no communications with Lucy during the flyby as the spacecraft turns its antenna away from Earth in order to track the asteroid. Levison expects to have most of the science data within a day.

Lucy’s next stop — “the main event,” as Levison calls it — will be the Trojan asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit around the sun. Swarms of Trojans precede and follow the solar system’s largest planet as it circles the sun. Lucy will visit eight of them from 2027 through 2033, some of them in pairs of two.

Lucy’s first asteroid flyby was in 2023 when it swept past little Dinkinesh, also in the main asteroid belt. The spacecraft discovered a mini moon around it.