Some of the material
blasted out of the crater sloshed back toward the middle, creating an 8 - mile - high peak in the center (shown in red here).
The instruments on the flyby vessel also will measure the composition of material
sprayed out of the crater as sunlight illuminates the gas and dust.
The basin is surrounded by grooves and gashes, large enough to be seen with even small telescopes from Earth, created by rocks blasted
out of the crater when it was formed.
«We calculated how much material was
knocked out of the crater, and it was far more than enough to explain all the meteorites that have fallen on Earth,» Russell says.
Standing at the bottom of the volcano, hearing the volcano rumble and observing the glowing stones
flying out of the crater was an unforgettable experience.
PVMBG head Kasbani said that an eruption would be indicated by tremors and smoke
coming out of the crater, as well as an increase in volcanic seismic activity.
Though the total amount of water
blasted out of the crater is uncertain, the LCROSS spacecraft detected more than 100 kilograms in the part of the plume it observed.
Today the volcano is still considered active but there have been no visible eruptions however it is still very much alive with gas coming
out of the crater and the temperature of the surrounding hot springs remaining just as hot as years back.