Why is polar cloud mysterious? (APOD 03 Apr 2007)
Why is polar cloud mysterious? (APOD 03 Apr 2007)
What is mysterious about the hexagonal-like cloud flow lines? Isn't it simply a sinusoidal wave along the flow caused by shear.
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Ben Tamari
- Asternaut
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 8:48 am
A Mysterious Hexagonal Cloud System on Saturn
The picture of today - Cloud on Saturn - reminds me KAM (Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser) torus, As a Mathematical Model for explaination. See http://www.ecometry.biz , Ben Tamari .
and we have just moved that thread 
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iamlucky13
- Commander
- Posts: 515
- Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 7:28 pm
- Location: Seattle, WA
There have been experiments with liquids in rotating containers that create standing geometric waves at various rotational speeds. Essentially, the rate of rotation matches the rate of sloshing of the liquid. Things like this are always considered mysterious until they have a working model of how it works. A similar effect is no doubt at play, but this case is a lot different than those experiments because:
1.) The hexagon is on the order of a million times bigger
2.) It formed in a gas instead of a liquid
3.) There is no hard boundary structure on Saturn, like a plastic bucket in the experiments.
4.) The match between the rotational speed and the speed of wave propogation appears coincidental rather than controlled (although perhaps this is a quasi-stable effect possible at specific radius given a set density and rotational speed).
5.) It can't be studied under in an easily controlled laboratory environment.
Incidentally, I did some further reading and found that geometric shapes are occasionally observed in the eye of a hurricane, which is normally circular or elliptical in shape. However, while hurricanes last for a week or so and form in the tropics on earth, this structure on Saturn was discovered over 20 years ago and is at the pole.
1.) The hexagon is on the order of a million times bigger
2.) It formed in a gas instead of a liquid
3.) There is no hard boundary structure on Saturn, like a plastic bucket in the experiments.
4.) The match between the rotational speed and the speed of wave propogation appears coincidental rather than controlled (although perhaps this is a quasi-stable effect possible at specific radius given a set density and rotational speed).
5.) It can't be studied under in an easily controlled laboratory environment.
Incidentally, I did some further reading and found that geometric shapes are occasionally observed in the eye of a hurricane, which is normally circular or elliptical in shape. However, while hurricanes last for a week or so and form in the tropics on earth, this structure on Saturn was discovered over 20 years ago and is at the pole.
"Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man." ~J. Robert Oppenheimer (speaking about Albert Einstein)
The new Saturn from IKEA.
Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream.