planets
(Image credit: Handout/Getty Images)

Actually, it's red!

Pluto has long been popularly depicted as grayish or blue, though scientists have suspected for decades that the distant dwarf planet has a reddish hue. But because Pluto is millions of miles away, we really didn't know for sure. Now, thanks to photos taken by the unmanned spacecraft New Horizons, we know that Pluto is red.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.