The high­est tem­per­a­ture on the plan­et is +70.7 C, tak­ing away the record from the North Amer­i­can Death Val­ley. For mil­lions of years, the hot wind has bit­ten into the rock, cre­at­ing bizarre alien land­scapes. In the Lut desert there are dunes famil­iar to every­one, but saline for­ma­tions are much more inter­est­ing. Sharp rocks, a val­ley with kilo­me­ters of frozen waves, sharp as blades on the crests. There is a mys­te­ri­ous salty riv­er, with water as white as milk and vis­cous as jel­ly. There are areas with black as gun­pow­der sand, there are areas with red, as from the Mar­t­ian plains.