NASA has released out-of-this-world footage of polar storms over Jupiter’s north pole.

Cyclones look like lava flows in NASA Juno probe’s flyover of Jupiter north pole

The animation, which makes plumes of cloud appear like lava flows, uses imagery collected by an infrared mapper aboard NASA’s Juno probe during its fourth pass over the planet.

The temperature of Jupiter’s atmosphere was sensed by infrared cameras and in the moving images yellow areas are warmer – or deeper into Jupiter’s atmosphere.

The red areas are cooler, and higher up in the planet’s atmosphere.

The lighter areas are hotter than the darker areas. Pic: NASA

In the pictures, the highest ‘brightness temperature’ is about -13C, and the lowest around -83C.

The brightness temperature is a measure of the radiance travelling up towards Juno

Posted by: Ocadon_gee