The Red Planet is not all red. Fresh images released by NASA shows that Mars is flush with other colours too, including rich shades of blue and beige.
The images of the planet’s northwest region Nili Fossae were taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera mounted on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
“The colors over many regions of Mars are homogenized by the dust and regolith, but here the bedrock is very well exposed, except where there are sand dunes,” the American space agency said. “The rocks also have diverse compositions. This region is ancient and has had a complicated geologic history, leading to interesting structures like layered bedrock, as well as other compositions.”
Mars is called the Red Planet because of the reddish appearance it gets from the heavy presence in the surface of iron oxide, the same compound that gives blood and rust their hue. Here are a few tweets by HiRISE that showcase Mars’s other fantastic colours.
We Like Big Buttes and We Cannot Lie. (Those other geologists might deny.) https://t.co/diQ1qicqMA pic.twitter.com/mFuenGV1LX
— HiRISE (NASA) (@HiRISE) May 6, 2016
HiRISE 4K: Studying Ladon Valles – https://t.co/apiRkVYzYb
— HiRISE (NASA) (@HiRISE) May 6, 2016
HiClip mini: Possible Iron Oxides Northwest of Hellas Planitia – https://t.co/uijWVYbxjb pic.twitter.com/yVb0NRxsFA
— HiRISE (NASA) (@HiRISE) May 6, 2016
All that glitters, ain’t gold – https://t.co/o7m4SVZgGh pic.twitter.com/kAllbW77Wx
— HiRISE (NASA) (@HiRISE) May 8, 2016
Layers and Fractures in Ophir Chasma – https://t.co/Wu3a1DR3PE pic.twitter.com/EVAq7lC5nr
— HiRISE (NASA) (@HiRISE) May 8, 2016
HiClip mini: Central Structures of a Crater North of Hellas Basin – https://t.co/ktFrwgihCG pic.twitter.com/StDWLn9QWP
— HiRISE (NASA) (@HiRISE) April 22, 2016