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posted by janrinok on Thursday October 27 2016, @09:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-that-bloody-dress-again! dept.

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Source: http://www.sciencealert.com/saturn-s-mysterious-hexagon-has-changed-from-blue-to-gold-and-no-one-knows-why

It's like nothing we've seen on any other planet in the entire Universe, and now the mysterious structure on Saturn's north pole just got even weirder.

In just four years, Saturn's hexagon has changed its colour from blue to gold. So far, our best guess as to why this change occurred is that this is what it looks like when Saturn's north pole gears up for next year's summer solstice.

Discovered almost 30 years ago, Saturn's hexagon is a six-sided structure that spans roughly 32,000 km (20,000 miles) in diameter, and extends about 100 km (60 miles) down into the planet's dense atmosphere.

As observed by NASA's Voyager and Cassini spacecraft, each point of the hexagon appears to rotate at its centre at nearly the same rate that Saturn rotates on its axis. Along the rim of the hexagon, a jet stream of air is blasting eastward at speeds of 321 km/h (200 mph).

Based on its size and movements, scientists have concluded that it's a vast cloud pattern generated by a gigantic, perpetual hurricane spinning at the centre of the planet's north pole.

Scientists estimate that this storm has been raging for decades - maybe even centuries.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @10:09AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @10:09AM (#419343)

    It's like nothing we've seen on any other planet in the entire Universe

    Translation: nothing like that on the other seven planets in the Solar System. Other three if you only count gas giants.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Thursday October 27 2016, @10:24AM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 27 2016, @10:24AM (#419346) Journal

      I had almost the same comment. It's not like we've explored hundreds of thousands of planets, up close and personal. Or millions. Or trillions. What we have are a handful of planets and other smaller rocks orbiting one star for comparison. Phhhtttt - you've really got to wonder about the credentials of these authors.

      It's like I discover a new species of animals, and ONE of them is somehow different. Most of the critters are a golden tan color. But that other one is definitely brown. So, I write an article about that one critter, "No other thingamabob has ever been seen with this coloration!" I'll just neglect to say that mankind has only ever observed sixteen of these animals. There might be zillions of them, but we've only ever seen sixteen for comparison. Maybe the brown critter is actually the norm, and the golden tans are abnormal within the greater population that we haven't seen yet.

    • (Score: 5, Touché) by SixGunMojo on Thursday October 27 2016, @11:35AM

      by SixGunMojo (509) on Thursday October 27 2016, @11:35AM (#419356)

      Well they are technically correct, just a very small sample size. I was more struck by this line -

      ...Discovered almost 30 years ago, Saturn's hexagon is a six-sided structure that spans roughly 32,000 km (20,000 miles) in diameter ....

      Is this a no-shit-sherlock statement or are there hexagons of which I am unaware that have a number of sides other than six?

      Full disclosure, my sample size is also pretty small and confined to one planet. ;-)

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 27 2016, @03:56PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 27 2016, @03:56PM (#419445) Journal
        Not everyone knows what a hexagon is.
        • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday October 27 2016, @06:21PM

          by bob_super (1357) on Thursday October 27 2016, @06:21PM (#419516)

          I know they keep cutting budgets, but that's an "are you smarter than a first grader" question...

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 27 2016, @07:11PM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 27 2016, @07:11PM (#419531) Journal
            People who don't use the knowledge don't always remain smarter than a first grader at least for this simple sort of question.
        • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 27 2016, @07:48PM

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday October 27 2016, @07:48PM (#419547) Journal

          It depends on what your definition of "is," is.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday October 27 2016, @08:57PM

          by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday October 27 2016, @08:57PM (#419562) Journal

          Not everyone knows what a hexagon is.

          Yes, indeed. They might be thinking of a pentagon, or a septagon, or a nonagon. But not an octagon. Point being, they should not admit such extreme ignorance, and for the writer to help them out like this is condescending and downright rude.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 27 2016, @09:42PM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 27 2016, @09:42PM (#419582) Journal

            Point being, they should not admit such extreme ignorance, and for the writer to help them out like this is condescending and downright rude.

            The word you're missing here is "helpful". You can always just not read a article which is not near perfectly geared to your level of competence.

            • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday October 28 2016, @06:41AM

              by aristarchus (2645) on Friday October 28 2016, @06:41AM (#419754) Journal

              KHALLOW! You are not helping! How am I supposed to tell the difference between a hexagon, and a Hex-be-Gone, that my preacher assures me will block the warts sent to me by my wicked half-brother/quarter cousin, Mighty Buzzard? What about the dodecahedrons? Oh, crap, they do not teach basic solids geometry any more? And I thought the inability to do stats was a problem. OK, as an ancient Greek, I gotta say, your education system has really failed to reach a common core. F, it's math, you all, and mathe in Greek means lessons, school lessons. Psst.
               

      • (Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Thursday October 27 2016, @04:44PM

        by JeanCroix (573) on Thursday October 27 2016, @04:44PM (#419472)
        Also, is it really correctly referred to as a "structure?" Wouldn't "formation" be a better term here?
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @09:12PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @09:12PM (#419567)

        Mountain out of a mole-hill. It is redundant, but also an educational writing format.

        But hey, +5 for nitpicking!

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 27 2016, @12:23PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday October 27 2016, @12:23PM (#419366)

      Giant long lived storm - do any red spots come to mind? Granted, a polar hurricane is a novelty, but not giant long lived vortices.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:52PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:52PM (#419406)

        but the great red spot has SEVEN SIDES

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:51PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:51PM (#419405)

      Nothing we've ever seen?

      Wrong.

      I remember a certain dress that looked gold or blue depending on who was looking.

  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 27 2016, @10:25AM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday October 27 2016, @10:25AM (#419347) Homepage
    Global warming.

    Told you so.

    Science, muthafuckas
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 5, Funny) by zocalo on Thursday October 27 2016, @12:55PM

      by zocalo (302) on Thursday October 27 2016, @12:55PM (#419380)
      Clearly Saturn's Hexagon is made from the same material as that damn dress from early last year.
      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:44PM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:44PM (#419400) Homepage
        Damn, I wish I'd posted that myself!

        I'm colourblind, that's my excuse - I didn't even see the article last year :-P
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @10:57AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @10:57AM (#419352)

    1) Where does the energy come from to to drive this storm? Is solar input enough for this?

    2) Have aerodynamics scientists tried to model this storm and see how it can sustain itself in this shape?
    2a) Would a "structure below the clouds" be needed for this storm to remain stable?

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by ledow on Thursday October 27 2016, @12:38PM

      by ledow (5567) on Thursday October 27 2016, @12:38PM (#419373) Homepage

      Billions of tons of gas moving at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour through space, kept in "freefall" by the Sun pulling on it constantly (orbit is basically freefall towards an object, but falling laterally so you never actually get any closer to it but instead end up circling it almost forever)?

      And we can't even model a bloody rain cloud over London properly, to any significant accuracy. Fluid dynamics is HARD.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by deadstick on Thursday October 27 2016, @12:47PM

      by deadstick (5110) on Thursday October 27 2016, @12:47PM (#419378)

      The first thing a hexagonal structure in an atmosphere brings to my mind is a Benard cell.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Thursday October 27 2016, @02:40PM

        by Arik (4543) on Thursday October 27 2016, @02:40PM (#419421) Journal
        "The first thing a hexagonal structure in an atmosphere brings to my mind is a Benard cell."

        I thought the same thing, but I'm not sure how to make sense of that. Why would the north pole of Saturn be a hot spot? One would expect the opposite.
        --
        If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
      • (Score: 2) by fritsd on Thursday October 27 2016, @04:11PM

        by fritsd (4586) on Thursday October 27 2016, @04:11PM (#419455) Journal

        I thought Benard cells were caused by temperature differential and gravity (hotter liquid below goes up against gravity)

        Like Arik says, though, why would it be hotter at the pole?

        Maybe this Saturn hexagon is a function of large difference between radial air speeds, and a hexagon is just steady-state form # 4 (after triangle square and pentagon).

        Does the Jet Stream on earth have an interesting geometric shape? (Not just a circle, I mean).

  • (Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:07PM (#419384)

    Is this the blue-gold dress thing again...

    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday October 27 2016, @02:44PM

      by Bot (3902) on Thursday October 27 2016, @02:44PM (#419426) Journal

      Tomorrow news: Operator at Nasa HQ forgot to adjust the WB.

      But in fact it changes color, it's is an ad for aliens whose metabolism and neuroprocessing speed is 1/10000th of ours. In 5234 AD the "Skip this ad" button will appear.

      --
      Account abandoned.
  • (Score: 1) by driven on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:42PM

    by driven (6295) on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:42PM (#419398)

    The blue part is still there, it's just smaller. The gold rim around the blue has gotten much bigger. Nothing has changed colour from what I see.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @02:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @02:42PM (#419423)

    How do they calibrate the camera? This looks like some kind of white balancing issue or a tinted film formed on the sensor or something.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @03:56PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @03:56PM (#419444)

    Scientists estimate that this storm has been raging for decades ...

    The storm was discovered 3 decades ago. It's pretty obvious that it's been there for decades!

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday October 27 2016, @11:59PM

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Thursday October 27 2016, @11:59PM (#419639) Journal

      Yeah sure, but has it been raging all the time? :-)

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @06:46PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @06:46PM (#419522)

    It is just powering up, move on, nothing to see.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @09:48PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @09:48PM (#419584)

      So DragonBall moves are based on real life! I knew it!*

      * kind of redundant cause it knew it when I dragonpunched another worm offa cliff to win

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 28 2016, @07:27PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 28 2016, @07:27PM (#419937)

    it's a giant space-traffic signal