Photo of Earth from the International Space Station looks like Mars

Astronauts working on the International Space Station (ISS) photographed a large red land without clouds, similar to the scene on the red planet.

The scene resembles Mars when observing Earth from the ISS station. (Photo: ESA/NASA/Thomas Pesquet).

Mars is also known as the red planet because of its iron oxide-rich soil and rock layer, which creates a special color, completely different from the usual green color of Earth. However, astronaut Thomas Pesquet (European Space Agency) captured the moment the Earth looked a lot like Mars while working on the International Space Station (ISS), Science Alert reported on May 25.

"There were no clouds in sight, ocher and red stretched to the horizon. I thought I was flying on Mars when I saw this," Pesquet said.

In fact, the photo captures the moment the ISS station flies over the red land of a desert . Pesquet did not disclose the specific location, but many suggested that the dark mountain range in the image could be the Tibesti range between Chad and Libya, North Africa. This mountain range is located in the Sahara - a desert that covers 31% of the African continent and is famous for its vast red-orange sands.

In addition to the Tibesti range, there is another important distinction that distinguishes these two planets 225 million km apart. Earth's atmosphere is a brilliant blue, much bluer than the thin Martian atmosphere. In fact, the Martian atmosphere is only 1% as dense as Earth's. Photograph taken by astronaut Pesquet clearly shows Earth's characteristic green atmosphere above the red land.