The U.S. space agency released a breathtakingly beautiful photo alongside a post titled, "Blue Dunes on the Red Planet."
As noted in the post, the dunes surround Mars' northern polar cap and were created by gusts of wind. The image below shows an area (80.3 degrees north latitude, 172.1 degrees east longitude) that's 19 miles wide — though the dunes reportedly cover an area as large as the state of Texas.
This particular scene was taken with the infrared camera of the Mars Odyssey orbiter, called the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS).
One of the most striking aspects of the photo is the vivid coloring seen throughout the dunes. As NASA described, the varying colors in this false-color image correspond with different dune temperatures.
The orangey, yellow-ish dunes, which have massive coral reef energy, signify warmer temperatures. And the blue areas seen in the upper lefthand corner of the image, which resemble dreamy lagoons or blankets of snow, have cooler temperatures.
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