NASA astronomers just shared a colorful new look Mars that proves that the Red Planet also looks great in blue.
Using a special infrared camera aboard the Mars Odyssey orbiter, which has hovered over the Red Planet since 2001, researchers created a thermal image of Mars’ north pole, digitally colored to highlight the varying temperatures there. Blue-tinted areas represent colder areas, while warmer areas are tinged yellow and orange, according to a NASA statement
In this image – covering an area of the pole about 30 kilometers wide – stretches of sand dunes in golden strips, warmed by the sun on one side and cooled in the darkness on the other.
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This intricate scene covers only a small portion of Mars’ entire north pole, which covers an area the size of Texas, the researchers said. A son Soil, the poles of Mars are the coldest places on their planet, with temperatures dropping to minus 220 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 140 degrees Celsius) in winter, according to the National Weather Service
Both poles of Mars are covered with permanent caps made of water ice, although carbon dioxide ice (more commonly known as dry ice) contributes to the cold landscape in winter. (Cracks in that dry ice cover are responsible for the eerie patterns known as the “spiders on Mars”Scientists believe that there could be several lakes with liquid water lurk beneath the south pole of Mars, also.
The colorful image above is a composite of several shots taken by the Odyssey orbiter between December 2002 and November 2004. NASA shared it on April 8 to celebrate the orbiter’s 20th anniversary in space (the orbiter was launched on April 7). April 2001). During that time, the floating observatory has returned more than 1 million thermal images of Mars to Earth, according to NASA.
In addition to revealing the likely locations of water ice stored on the planet, Odyssey’s eye in the sky was also a boon to his robotic brethren below; data from Odyssey helped NASA scientists choose the ideal location to deploy the Perseverance in February 2012.
Originally published on Live Science.