by APOD Robot » Sun Jun 18, 2023 4:10 am
Saturn's Northern Hexagon
Explanation: Why would clouds form a hexagon on Saturn? Nobody is sure. Originally discovered during the
Voyager flybys of Saturn in the 1980s, nobody has ever seen anything like it anywhere else in the
Solar System. Acquiring its first sunlit views of far northern
Saturn in late 2012, the Cassini spacecraft's wide-angle camera recorded this
stunning, false-color image of the ringed planet's north pole. The composite of near-infrared image data results in red hues for low clouds and green for high ones, giving the
Saturnian cloudscape a vivid appearance. This and similar images show the stability of the
hexagon even 20+ years after Voyager.
Movies of Saturn's North Pole show the cloud structure maintaining its
hexagonal structure while rotating. Unlike individual clouds appearing like a
hexagon on Earth, the Saturn
cloud pattern appears to have
six well defined sides of nearly equal length. Four
Earths could fit inside the
hexagon. Beyond the cloud tops at the upper right, arcs of the planet's
eye-catching rings are tinted bright blue.
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230618.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_230618.jpg[/img] [size=150]Saturn's Northern Hexagon[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Why would clouds form a hexagon on Saturn? Nobody is sure. Originally discovered during the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1]Voyager[/url] flybys of Saturn in the 1980s, nobody has ever seen anything like it anywhere else in the [url=https://space.jpl.nasa.gov/]Solar System[/url]. Acquiring its first sunlit views of far northern [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121204.html]Saturn in late 2012[/url], the Cassini spacecraft's wide-angle camera recorded this [url=https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA14946]stunning, false-color image[/url] of the ringed planet's north pole. The composite of near-infrared image data results in red hues for low clouds and green for high ones, giving the [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/overview/]Saturnian[/url] cloudscape a vivid appearance. This and similar images show the stability of the [url=https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Hexagon.html]hexagon[/url] even 20+ years after Voyager. [url=https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09187]Movies[/url] of Saturn's North Pole show the cloud structure maintaining its [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn%27s_hexagon]hexagonal structure[/url] while rotating. Unlike individual clouds appearing like a [url=https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/images/59758/hexagonal-cloud-cells-in-south-atlantic-ocean]hexagon on Earth[/url], the Saturn [url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-20070327.html]cloud pattern[/url] appears to have [url=https://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2010/2471.html]six well defined sides[/url] of nearly equal length. Four [url=http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0610/earthlights02_dmsp_big.jpg]Earth[/url]s could fit inside the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexagon]hexagon[/url]. Beyond the cloud tops at the upper right, arcs of the planet's [url=https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1872746/cat-looking-shocked.jpg]eye-catching[/url] [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131021.html]rings[/url] are tinted bright blue.
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