---
title: "Amazing Image of Jupiter Looks Like It’s Burning"
description: "A beautiful new infrared image of Jupiter makes the entire gassy planet look like it's turned into a giant, swirling fireball."
date: "2020-05-08"
modified: "2020-05-08"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/amazing-image-jupiter-looks-burning"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "jupiter"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Amazing Image of Jupiter Looks Like It’s Burning

![A beautiful new infrared image of Jupiter makes the entire gassy planet look like it's turned into a giant, swirling fireball.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/amazing-image-jupiter-looks-burning.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: GEMINI OBSERVATORY/M.H.WONG ET AL\</em\>*

## Jupiter Descending

A dazzling new image of Jupiter makes the planet look like a gigantic, swirling ball of fire.

While it's a dramatic sight to behold, the image doesn't really show what Jupiter looks like through a telescope, *[BBC News ](<https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52587488>)*[reports](<https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52587488>). Rather, it's a composite taken with a technique called "lucky imaging" that peers beneath the planet's cloudy surface and shows the tumultuous distribution of heat hiding beneath.

## Focusing In

Even though it's an infrared heatmap, the new image is still among the [sharpest images of Jupiter](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/glorious-nasa-photo-thin-bands-jupiter.md>) ever taken from Earth, according to *BBC News*.

That's because lucky imaging helps filter out the usual blurriness caused by Jupiter's extremely turbulent atmosphere, resulting in a much sharper image. This final image, from Hawaii's Gemini North Telescope, combined a lot of those lucky images — letting researchers focus on the entire planet, bit by bit.

**READ MORE:** [Scientists obtain 'lucky' image of Jupiter](<https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52587488>) \[*BBC News*\]

**More on space images:** *[Astronomers Discover Brown Dwarf Covered in Stripes](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/astronomers-discover-brown-dwarf-covered-stripes.md>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)

## More

- [NASA Says It’s Spotted Organic Compounds on Jupiter’s Largest Moon](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-organic-compounds-jupiter-moon-ganymede.md>)
- [Awesome Video Shows Jupiter’s Moons in Comparison to NYC](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/video-jupiter-moons-nyc.md>)
- [NASA is Sending a Probe to Jupiter’s Icy Moon to Look for Life](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-jupiter-icy-moon-europa-clipper.md>)
- [NASA Spacecraft Zooms Close to Jupiter’s Brutal Moon, Snaps Amazing Photos](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-jupiter-brutal-moon-photo.md>)
- [Voracious Jupiter Ate a Bunch of Baby Planets, Scientists Say](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/jupiter-ate-baby-planets.md>)
- [James Webb Captures Jupiter in Glorious Infrared](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/james-webb-jupiter-infrared-nasa.md>)
- [The Webb Telescope Just Quietly Released a Picture of Jupiter](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/webb-telescope-jupiter.md>)
- [The Moons of Jupiter and Saturn Could Have Earth-Like Tidal Waves](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/moons-tidal-waves-jupiter-saturn.md>)