TO CLOSE

Everyone calls Mars the "red planet," but apparently she is ready to be renamed.
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) NASA shows a turquoise blue dune on Mars.(Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizon)

NASA recently released a photo of a large blue sand dune on Mars showing "a more complex structure" than the dunes that surround it.

The striking image of the turquoise blue dune on the red planet was captured Jan. 24 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera, run by the University of Arizona at Tucson. The dune was sighted in the Lyot crater region of Mars. The researchers suspect that it could be made of finer materials than neighboring dunes, according to one MRO press release, which exploded in space in 2005, studies the history of water on Mars.

The curiosity of NASA The Mars rover has already shown that Mars is home to sand dunes the size of football fields and small sand ripples.

The planet is currently fighting a massive sandstorm that has silenced NASA's solar-powered Opportunity rover. NASA's Curiosity Rover, which has not been affected continues to collect data, and even posed for a dusty "selfie".

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