NASA Orbiter Finds Large Streak Of Blue On The Red Planet
TUCSON, Ariz. (CNN) - Mars is often referred to as the Red Planet, but pictures from one of NASA's orbiters shows what appeared to be a striking blue sand dune. The images were captured in January by the Mars Renaissance Orbiter, using the HiRISE camera, described online as "the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet."
But the dune isn't actually blue -- it's gray. After an extensive editing process, colors and lines pop out.
Orbiters, unlike rovers, do not touch the ground. Instead, they monitor the planet from just outside of its atmosphere.
Without the camera, the human eye would see a gray slate and not much else. The camera captures a lot more detail, but even that device cannot see everything because of the dust on the planet.
So, three separate images are taken of the area and colors are individually adjusted to red, blue and green using infrared technology, stated Alfred McEwen, director of the Planetary Image Research Laboratory at the University of Arizona. After boosting the contrast, the dune appears blue because it "is made of finer material and/or has a different composition than the surrounding," according to a recent NASA press release.
"Then, we combine the colors because the images have a very low contrast," McEwen added.
The dune was found on the Lyot Crater, where most other dunes are crescent-shaped. They take on this shape because of their position facing the wind. It is unclear why the blue dune is more abstract.
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