Skylight Cave
Mars Cave Analog & Proposed CEMSS Test Site
(N44°20.804 W121°43.052 - Elevation: 4131ft. - Near Sisters, Oregon)
Click Here for Cave Diagrams

Just South of the Black Butte Ranch resort, lies Skylight Cave, (below), a short little tube with some great big features. Notably a series of three hornito-holes, hanging over a large chamber, that gives the cave its name. This cave has the ideal features, (albeit smaller), for a potential analog Martian "Colony Cave." The hornitos are openings that, unlike collapse entrances, have a minimal amount of debris underneath them. Two of the openings, (lower left & right), are large enough to allow for a 14" SolaTube® Skylight for light-piping experiments. The hammer displayed for scale has a head that measures exactly 10 cm.

The size of the chamber below the hornitos is about eight meters from hole to floor. The rope ladder, (for scale only - not used!), measures about three meters long with 30 cm wide rungs. The exceptional power of the Canon® Speedlite 199A is evident in the wide angle view, (below right).