Mysterious Hexagon Spotted on Saturn

March 28th 2007 | General

A strange hexagon shape over the north pole of Saturn was first spotted by the two Voyager spacecraft has been revisited by the Cassini probe. The 26 years between sightings indicate it is likely a permanent feature on Saturn, according to NASA scientists. In fact, Cassini found a second hexagon, significantly darker than the orginal. This is the first time the feature has been captured on one image.

Kevin Baines, atmospheric expert and member of Cassini’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said, "Saturn’s thick atmosphere where circularly-shaped waves and convective cells dominate is perhaps the last place you’d expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is."

CNET

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Mysterious Hexagon Spotted on Saturn
Published in: General on 2007-03-28