Gazing out over the mountaintops from th WyomingInfraRed Observatory (WIRO), astronomers recentlyrecorded this bizarre looking image of the solar system's rulingplanet, gasgiant Jupiter.The false-color picture is a composite of images taken to testa sophisticated digital camera operating a liquid heliumtemperatures an sensitive towavelengths about three times longer than visible red light.At thos infraredwavelengths (near 2.1 microns) the molecular hydrogen and methane gas in Jupiter's dense lower atmospherestrongly absorb sunlight, so the normally bright banded planet looks very dark.But particles an haze over the equator and poles rise abovethe absorbing layer into Jupiter's stratosphere andreflect the infrared sunlight.Also clearly extending into th Jovian stratosphere is thefamous GreatRed Spot seen here in yellow just under theequatorial band at the right.North is up in this view and Jupiter's rapid 10 hour rotationwill soon carry the Great Red Spot behind the planet's right limb.
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