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Bizarre Hexagon Spotted on Saturn
Space.com ^
| 3/27/07
Posted on 03/27/2007 11:10:24 AM PDT by anymouse
One of the most bizarre weather patterns known has been photographed at Saturn, where astronomers have spotted a huge, six-sided feature circling the north pole.
Rather than the normally sinuous cloud structures seen on all planets that have atmospheres, this thing is a hexagon.
The honeycomb-like feature has been seen before. NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft imaged it more than two decades ago. Now, having spotted it with the Cassini spacecraft, scientists conclude it is a long-lasting oddity.
"This is a very strange feature, lying in a precise geometric fashion with six nearly equally straight sides," said Kevin Baines, atmospheric expert and member of Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We've never seen anything like this on any other planet. Indeed, Saturn's thick atmosphere, where circularly-shaped waves and convective cells dominate, is perhaps the last place you'd expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is."
The hexagon is nearly 15,000 miles (25,000 kilometers) across. Nearly four Earths could fit inside it. The thermal imagery shows the hexagon extends about 60 miles (100 kilometers) down into the clouds.
At Saturn's south pole, Cassini recently spotted a freaky human eye-like feature that resembles a hurricane.
"It's amazing to see such striking differences on opposite ends of Saturn's poles," said Bob Brown, team leader of the Cassini visual and infrared mapping spectrometer at the University of Arizona. "At the south pole we have what appears to be a hurricane with a giant eye, and at the north pole of Saturn we have this geometric feature, which is completely different."
The hexagon appears to have remained fixed with Saturn's rotation rate and axis since first glimpsed by Voyager 26 years ago. The actual rotation rate of Saturn is still uncertain, which means nobody knows exactly how long the planet's day is.
"Once we understand its dynamical nature, this long-lived, deep-seated polar hexagon may give us a clue to the true rotation rate of the deep atmosphere and perhaps the interior," Baines said.
TOPICS: News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: astronomy; catastrophism; hexagon; polarvortex; saturn; space
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To: anymouse
It's the bolt that holds the entire planet together.
To: DogBarkTree
I did not know that the Rovian weather machine had interplanetary powers. Isn't technology wonderful?!?
To: anymouse
See a similarity?
123
posted on
03/27/2007 6:06:30 PM PDT
by
IllumiNaughtyByNature
(I buy gas for my Hummer with the Carbon Offsets I sell on Ebay!)
To: D-Chivas
This is about saturn, not uranus. ;-)
124
posted on
03/27/2007 6:12:11 PM PDT
by
meyer
(Bring back the Contract with America and you'll bring back the Republican majority.)
To: TonyInOhio
125
posted on
03/27/2007 6:23:36 PM PDT
by
Grizzled Bear
("Does not play well with others.")
To: DogBarkTree
Thanks for posting that. Fascinating hexagon occurring in nature.
126
posted on
03/27/2007 6:28:29 PM PDT
by
Kevmo
(Duncan Hunter just needs one Rudy G Campaign Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVBtPIrEleM)
To: Disambiguator
127
posted on
03/27/2007 6:28:42 PM PDT
by
null and void
(To Marines, male bonding happens in Boot Camp, to Democrats, it happens at a Gay Pride parade...)
To: Suzy Quzy
Someone has to do it.
Whats a henway?
128
posted on
03/27/2007 6:30:01 PM PDT
by
null and void
(To Marines, male bonding happens in Boot Camp, to Democrats, it happens at a Gay Pride parade...)
To: Uncle Peter
Could this Hexagonal structure be a manifestation Benzene?I don't know if it's been-seen on Saturn...
129
posted on
03/27/2007 6:33:22 PM PDT
by
null and void
(To Marines, male bonding happens in Boot Camp, to Democrats, it happens at a Gay Pride parade...)
To: anymouse
Apparently the Pentagon is "looking into this."
130
posted on
03/27/2007 6:36:08 PM PDT
by
SamAdams76
(Today I officially outlive Steve Irwin)
To: dennisw
The bee hive hexagon has an intelligent builder behind it. Is there any other hexagons that occur without a intelligent builder behind it?
To: John 6.66=Mark of the Beast?
Devil's postpile
132
posted on
03/27/2007 7:08:54 PM PDT
by
null and void
(To Marines, male bonding happens in Boot Camp, to Democrats, it happens at a Gay Pride parade...)
To: capydick
LOL! You crack me up! I needed that tonight! I really, really did. I'm such a masochist I clicked on this article assuming there would be a picture of Helen Thomas.
To: John 6.66=Mark of the Beast?
Giant's causeway:
134
posted on
03/27/2007 7:56:59 PM PDT
by
null and void
(To Marines, male bonding happens in Boot Camp, to Democrats, it happens at a Gay Pride parade...)
To: null and void
What;s a HENWAY??? About 6 poubds!!! BaDUM.
135
posted on
03/27/2007 8:04:50 PM PDT
by
Suzy Quzy
(Hillary '08...Her Phoniness is Genuine!!!)
To: Suzy Quzy
Took you long enough. Did we wake you?
136
posted on
03/27/2007 8:05:36 PM PDT
by
null and void
(To Marines, male bonding happens in Boot Camp, to Democrats, it happens at a Gay Pride parade...)
To: anymouse; Ann Archy
137
posted on
03/27/2007 8:05:47 PM PDT
by
Suzy Quzy
(Hillary '08...Her Phoniness is Genuine!!!)
To: null and void
I was cooking dinner for guests!!!
138
posted on
03/27/2007 8:06:23 PM PDT
by
Suzy Quzy
(Hillary '08...Her Phoniness is Genuine!!!)
To: Suzy Quzy
Did you make enough for all of us? I think not!
139
posted on
03/27/2007 8:08:58 PM PDT
by
null and void
(To Marines, male bonding happens in Boot Camp, to Democrats, it happens at a Gay Pride parade...)
To: anymouse
It's a giant ad for a famous local eating establishment.
Saturns' version of The Brown Derby. :)
140
posted on
03/27/2007 8:09:00 PM PDT
by
Shadowstrike
(Be polite, Be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.)
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