Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2020 May 13

                       Jupiter in Infrared from Gemini
   Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory, NOIRLab, NSF, AURA; M.
                        H. Wong (UC Berkeley) & Team;
    Acknowledgment: Mahdi Zamani; Text: Alex R. Howe (NASA/USRA, Reader's
                          History of SciFi Podcast)

   Explanation: In infrared, Jupiter lights up the night. Recently,
   astronomers at the Gemini North Observatory in Hawaii, USA, created
   some of the best infrared photos of Jupiter ever taken from Earth's
   surface, pictured. Gemini was able to produce such a clear image using
   a technique called lucky imaging, by taking many images and combining
   only the clearest ones that, by chance, were taken when Earth's
   atmosphere was the most calm. Jupiter's jack-o'-lantern-like appearance
   is caused by the planet's different layers of clouds. Infrared light
   can pass through clouds better than visible light, allowing us to see
   deeper, hotter layers of Jupiter's atmosphere, while the thickest
   clouds appear dark. These pictures, together with ones from the Hubble
   Space Telescope and the Juno spacecraft, can tell us a lot about
   weather patterns on Jupiter, like where its massive, planet-sized
   storms form.

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