The cave appears to be reachable from an open pit in the Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquillity), the ancient lava plain where the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the moon more than half a century ago.
Analysis of radar data collected by Nasa's lunar reconnaissance orbiter (LRO) revealed that the Mare Tranquillitatis pit, the deepest known pit on the moon, leads to a cave 45 metres (150ft) wide and up to 80 metres long. The cave lies about 150 metres beneath the surface.
Lorenzo Bruzzone, of the University of Trento in Italy, said the cave was "probably an empty lava tube", adding that such features could serve as human habitats in the future as they were "a natural shelter against the harsh lunar environment".
Lunar orbiters first spotted pits on the moon more than a decade ago.
Many are thought to be "skylights" that connect to underground caves such as lava tubes, giant underground tunnels that form through volcanic processes.
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