We've always been led to believe that Mars is red. That's why it's nicknamed The Red Planet. But as you can see from these stunning new images recently released by NASA, the surface of Mars is actually a lot more colorful than we think.
The images were taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which has been rotating the not-so-red planet since it was launched into space in 2005. Thousands of images have been beamed back to earth since then, but few are as impressive as this latest batch of pictures. Several factors (such as the sun's position to Mars, Mars' position to earth, and the Mars equinox) conspired to make photography conditions just right for the MRO, and the Orbiter was able to snap a total of 1,035 images with an incredible level of clarity. From gullies to dunes, valleys to slopes, the pictures reveal a very different Mars to the one of our imagination. Here's a list of some of our favorites. You can find the full collection here. (h/t: mymodernmet)
