Hang Sơn Đoòng Cave, Vietnam Aug 15, 2024

Hang Sơn Đoòng Cave, Vietnam

In 1991, logger Hồ Khanh stumbled upon something big in what is now Vietnam"s Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park. During a jungle expedition, he found the entrance to a cave with a roaring underground river. It was later named Hang Sơn Đoòng, or "cave of the mountain river" and in 2009, the British Cave Research Association led an expedition to explore it. They realized something incredible: It was the world"s largest cave. Hang Sơn Đoòng"s main passage is 3.1 miles long, 490 feet wide, and 660 feet high. That"s tall enough to fit a 40-story skyscraper.

© Geng Xu/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

Aug 15, 2018Best. Holiday. Ever.
Aug 15, 2019It’s surströmming time
Aug 15, 2020Celebrating the Acadians
Aug 15, 2021Swim city
Aug 15, 2022Indian Independence Day
Aug 15, 2023Piazza IX Aprile, Taormina, Sicily, Italy
Aug 15, 2025Spotted eagle rays in the Galápagos Islands

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Sep 8, 2024International Literacy Day
Feb 5, 2018Iceberg off the coast of Antarctica
Oct 9, 2018A history of Vinland
Dec 24, 2020Hey, don t you guys have somewhere to be?
May 22, 2018Happy birthday to Crater Lake National Park
Aug 1, 2018Don’t look down
Sep 22, 2023World Rhinoceros Day
Feb 26, 2018A leafy seadragon in the waters off Wool Bay, Australia
Jun 16, 2024Happy Fathers Day!
Sep 6, 2020Summer winds down in the Hamptons
Sep 13, 2018They’re grrrape!
Nov 5, 2022Tigh Mor Trossachs on Loch Achray, Scotland
Feb 29, 2024Leap day
Mar 20, 2020Heron lies the Salton Sea
Jun 7, 2025National Trails Day
Apr 3, 2018The village of Castelluccio above the Piano Grande, Umbria, Italy
Nov 21, 2023Gray seal pup, Norfolk, England
Nov 21, 2021The Great Glen
Feb 11, 2021It’s showtime for a precious crop
Nov 28, 2022Red Planet Day
Jul 17, 2021Pretty, pretty…butterfly?
Oct 4, 2020Infrared Jupiter, erupting Io
Mar 24, 2024Silvereyes in South Korea
Apr 3, 2022Lake Tai s cherry trees in bloom
Apr 1, 2023Frog Month
May 28, 2018Honoring the fallen
Apr 1, 2022April Fools Day
Dec 28, 2021Kjell Henriksen Observatory
Mar 12, 2025Château de Sully-sur-Loire, Center-Val de Loire, France
Apr 16, 2022National Park Week begins