Mars, Rainbow Planet

Research & Collections

In fact, Mars is still our solar system’s beloved “Red Planet”, so-named for the abundance of iron oxide on its surface. And if held in your hand, Mars rocks most Mars rocks will appear rather similar to rocks from our home planet. However, also like rocks from Earth and other planetary bodies, very thin slices, or thin sections, of Martian terrain will look brilliantly colored using polarized light microscopy, a method that depends on how light bends through materials with varying optical properties, and used in identifying crystals and minerals .

We recently started imaging a new set of Martian and other extraterrestrial samples in the Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Lab, beginning with Martian rocks, shown below in brilliant color.

But first, how can we have samples of Mars, since we’ve never had a mission return with any rocks? The answer: meteorites. Out of more than 61,000 meteorites found on Earth…

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