The Red Planet is surprisingly colorful, Mars photos show

New photos published in December that were taken onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter with the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment show how eerily Earth-like yet pleasantly alien Mars exactly is. New photos published in December that were taken onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter with the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment show how eerily Earth-like yet pleasantly alien Mars exactly is. Photo: NASA/JPL/University Of Arizona Photo: NASA/JPL/University Of Arizona Image 1 of / 38 Caption Close The Red Planet is surprisingly colorful, Mars photos show 1 / 38 Back to Gallery

More than a dozen photos taken thousands of feet above the Martian surface show how eerily Earth-like yet pleasantly alien Mars exactly is.

The photos were taken onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been transmitting photos of the fourth planet's surface back to Earth since 2006.

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A special camera developed by the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, called the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE for short), is an "indispensable instrument" used by other scientists to determine landing sites and learn more about the planet.

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Go through the gallery above to see photos published in December.

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