10 Things Movies Get Wrong About Space

Despite being nicknamed the 'Red Planet' and countless movies presenting the planet to us as a dusty reddish sphere, Mars isn't actually straight up red, ladies and gentlemen.

From a distance it may appear to be slightly reddish - due to the thin layer of rusty iron oxide dust in the atmosphere - yet in reality the surface has been known to look more of a butterscotch colour. In some areas, it's also been seen to be golden, tan, yellow-brown, and even a bit greenish.

So, films likes The Martian (2015) actually seem to get the surface of Mars pretty spot on. However, films like The Angry Red Planet (1959), Mission to Mars (2000) and The Red Planet (2000) all chose to depict Mars as a bright red/orange world, with most of the scenes on the planet being masked by a weird orangey filter.

At this point, people have grown so used to seeing the planet depicted as a bright red dusty wasteland that they're inclined to label a movie as incorrect if characters are seen walking around on a golden or yellow-brown Mars surface.

It's time to move on, folks. The 'Butterscotch Ball' has a better ring to it, anyway.