NASA astronomers just shared a colorful new view of Mars that proves the Red Planet also looks great in blue.
Using a special infrared camera aboard the Mars Odyssey orbiter, which has been soaring over the Red Planet since 2001, researchers snapped a thermal image of the Martian north pole, digitally colored to highlight the wide-ranging temperatures there. Areas tinted in blue represent colder regions, while warmer areas are tinted in yellow and orange, according to a NASA statement.
In this image — which covers an area of the pole about 19 miles (30 kilometers) wide — vast sand dunes line up in golden drifts, warmed by the sun on one side and chilled in the darkness on the other.