New images captured by a NASA spacecraft show
a unique six-sided jet stream, known as the
hexagon, around Saturn's north pole. The Cassini
spacecraft took the picture of the hexagon
over a ten-hour period using HD cameras, and
colour filters. This gave scientists a good
look at the motion of cloud structures within
the planet.
NASA showed the images in a high-resolution
movie on Wednesday. Spanning about 20,000
miles across, the hexagon is a wavy jet stream
of winds with a rotating storm at the centre.
Scientists from the Cassini imaging team said
the storm around the pole is about twice the
size of the largest hurricane recorded on
Earth and there is no weather like it anywhere
else in the solar system. Researchers suspect
the stability of the hexagon has something
to do with the lack of solid landforms on
Saturn, which is essentially a giant ball
of gas. Using a black-and-white version of
the imaging and movies, they were able to
examine the storms inside the jet stream.
Better views of the hexagon are available
now because the Sun began to illuminate its
interior in late 2012 and even better lighting
conditions are expected during Saturn's summer
solstice in 2017.
