The fourth planet from the Sun is famously a rusty red—but scientists now believe we’ve been wrong about how it got its distinct hue. The red coloration comes from iron minerals in Mars ...

The red planet Mars, named for the Roman god of war, has long been an omen in the night sky. And in its own way, the planet’s rusty red surface tells a story of destruction. Billions of years ...

Because of the absence of liquid water on Mars’s surface today, its rusty red minerals were thought to arise from dry iron oxides present in the dust, such as hematite. However, new analysis of ...