Stunning 'lucky' Jupiter image shows the planet's glowing warm regions like never before

An incredible image of glowing Jupiter has been produced by astronomers using a "lucky imaging" technique.

The shot is one of the sharpest observations of the huge planet ever captured by a telescope on Earth.

It was taken in infared by the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii.

The "lucky imaging" technique was used to scrub out the blurry effect that occurs when looking at an object through Earth's turbulent atmosphere.

It involved taking multiple exposures of Jupiter and only keeping the least blurry shots.

These "lucky shots" are then pieced together to create a clear image.

Infrared imaging was also used to see past the haze and clouds we usually see at the top of Jupiter's atmosphere.

This enabled researchers to see Jupiter's glowing warmer areas much more clearly.

This could help scientists probe deeper into Jupiter's internal workings, such as the reasons behind the planet's great storms.

Jupiter is thought to have such powerful storms that they can last for decades or even centuries.

The study that produced this image was led by the University of California at Berkeley.

It involved observations from the Hubble and Juno spacecrafts.

Michael Wong of UC Berkeley, who led the research team, said: "These images rival the view from space."

Learn how long it takes to get the largest planet in the solar system…

At the closest point in their respective orbits, Jupiter and Earth are around 365 million miles apart.
But because neither planet spins around the sun in a perfect circle, nor at the same speed, this number fluctuates dramatically.
When they are furthest apart the planets are 601 million miles apart, more than two thirds farther away than they are at their nearest.
As it is further away Jupiter takes 11.86 Earth-years to complete one orbit of the sun.
While we travel around our star we catch up with the gas Giant once every 399 days, causing the gas giant to appear to travel backwards in the night sky.

In other space news, a planet triple the size of Jupiter has been found lurking in a nearby solar system.

Nasa has a list of 22 asteroids that might hit Earth.

And, the 'world's clearest picture of the Moon's craters' has been revealed.

What's your favourite planet? Let us know in the comments…

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