Posted on 02/23/2025 11:34:18 AM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: Saturn looks slightly different in infrared light. Bands of clouds show great structure, including long stretching storms. Also quite striking in infrared is the unusual hexagonal cloud pattern surrounding Saturn's North Pole. Each side of the dark hexagon spans roughly the width of our Earth. The hexagon's existence was not predicted, and its origin and likely stability remain a topics of research. Saturn's famous rings circle the planet and cast shadows below the equator. The featured image was taken by the robotic Cassini spacecraft in 2014 in several infrared colors. In 2017 September, the Cassini mission was brought to a dramatic conclusion when the spacecraft was directed to dive into the ringed giant.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
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Wow.
The hexagon at the pole is almost as cool as the rings.
The hexagon is interesting at the pole.
Something might be internally influencing the hexagon shape, but what? Maybe another probe someday, equipped with radar to penetrate the clouds might answer some questions….
Snowflake crystals typically have hexagonal geometries, but how a geometry that miniscule in size could be propagated to a feature larger than the diameter of the earth is hard to imagine.
These are a little small, but you get the idea....
Open up the hexagon,...
“The thing is full of stars...”
Well at least it’s not a Phillips head - I usually end up stripping those things . . .
I wonder what’s inside!
“Give me a place to stand and I shall open the top of Saturn”
— Archimedes
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