Saturn's Mysterious Hexagon Emerges from Winter Darkness

[n2doc]

This movie from Cassini, made possible only as Saturn's north pole emerged from winter darkness, shows new details of a jet stream that follows a hexagon-shaped path and has long puzzled scientists. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

After waiting years for the sun to illuminate Saturn's north pole again, cameras aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft have captured the most detailed images yet of the intriguing hexagon shape crowning the planet.

The new images of the hexagon, whose shape is the path of a jet stream flowing around the north pole, reveal concentric circles, curlicues, walls and streamers not seen in previous images. Images and the three-frame animation are available at http://www.nasa.gov/cassini , http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://ciclops.org.

The last visible-light images of the entire hexagon were captured by NASA's Voyager spacecraft nearly 30 years ago, the last time spring began on Saturn. After the sunlight faded, darkness shrouded the north pole for 15 years. Much to the delight and bafflement of Cassini scientists, the location and shape of the hexagon in the latest images match up with what they saw in the Voyager pictures.

"The longevity of the hexagon makes this something special, given that weather on Earth lasts on the order of weeks," said Kunio Sayanagi, a Cassini imaging team associate at the California Institute of Technology. "It's a mystery on par with the strange weather conditions that give rise to the long-lived Great Red Spot of Jupiter."

more:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/cassini20091209.html

[tridim]

1. "Hey aliens, the life in this solar system is carbon based."

I have no idea what it is, but I do know that weather is never that symetrical.

[The Doctor.]

4. Yeah... it's not like anything symmetrical like that would occur in nature...

It must be aliens!

[tridim]

8. Well, I did just describe it as a large crystal.

:)

[nashville_brook]

10. no, never...

[tridim]

11. I said weather, not nature in general

AND I was being tounge in cheek.

Relax folks. :rofl:

And your pic is a red x BTW.

[nashville_brook]

13. see hurricane isabel pinwheel design below

i'm home sick... meant to put the hurricane up here, and the bees down there to show hexagons in nature -- cold meds have me all screwy. didn't catch your tongueincheekatude, but wasn't responding in the spirit of meanness, either.

i remember clearly the geometric pattern in the hurricane because it was so cool.

[trotsky]

6. Let's qualify your statement properly, eh?

"Weather (on Earth) is never that symmetrical (as far as I know)."

That's better. All sorts of funky things can go on with harmonics, and when you have gas giants like Saturn & Jupiter rotating at such astonishing speeds, it's not hard to imagine some kind of harmonic being responsible.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Nope, never.

[tridim]

15. Hurricanes aren't symetrical at all.

We already know all about rotating storms on Earth and the gas giants, this hexagon formation is something new and isn't a typical weather pattern. First of all, the thing isn't moving and it has maintained its shape and orientation for at least 30 years. You don't find that odd?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. I think you should study symmetry some more.

And weather.

[tridim]

17. Are you serious?

I can't believe I have to post this, but I will anyway.

sym·me·try (sm-tr)
n. pl. sym·me·tries
1. Exact correspondence of form and constituent configuration on opposite sides of a dividing line or plane or about a center or an axis. See Synonyms at proportion.

Symmetric:


Not symmetric:


Hurricanes have some order, but they're not symmetric at all.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. That's why I said you need to study symmetry a little more.

And go on beyond the dictionary's limited definition.

For example, I can spot C₂ symmetry in your image of the hurricane, with C₄ symmetry in the eye. In a more well-formed hurricane you'll see higher degrees of rotational symmetry, including the C₆ symmetry shown in the Saturn hexagon.

[tridim]

19. Yes, a mathematically perfect spiral is symmetric about its center.

No hurricane is a perfect spiral, they don't even have a center that can be pinpointed exactly.

But you're right, I'm not a practicing mathematician, but I do know what symmetry means.

What do you think it is? A random cloud formation that has lasted for at least 30 years?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. I can point to the center of your hurricane as easily as I can to the saturn hexagon.

And hurricanes don't need to be perfect to be symmetrical. It's not like the saturn hexagon is a perfect hexagon.

Oh, and there's really nothing significant about 30 year cloud formations when it comes to gas giants. The Great Red Spot on jupiter is hundreds of years old. And it's symmetrical. As for explanations:

http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060515/full/news060515-17.html

[tridim]

21. Do you think all human faces are symmetrical by strict definition?

If so, then :rofl:.

Such a strange conversation on this chilly morning.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. Well maybe not Quasimodo or John Merrick. Or Ashley Todd.

But yeah, a human face would possess D₂ symmetry.

[kestrel91316]

2. It's a giant representation of a benzene ring. The Saturnians are trying to send us a communication

in the form of an organic chemical drawing.

Or whatever.......

[opihimoimoi]

3. Holy Crap...WTF made THAT??? This one is not EASY as the others

[The Doctor.]

5. Bored Martians.

They turned their entire planet into a spaceship, but the humans haven't noticed yet. So they ran around just sticking stuff on other planets on the off-chance it would fuck with us.

[drm604]

7. "The thing's hollow—it goes on forever—and—oh my God—it's full of stars!"

But seriously, this is likely the result of harmonics or some other natural process.

[nashville_brook]

9. hurricane isabel pinwheel pattern

[Deep13]

12. If only it were octagonal it could be the solar system's stop sign.

:(

[The Doctor.]

23. And the asteroid ring is the speed bump.