Thursday, December 17, 2009

Odd

Saturn's north pole is currently coming out of its long winter. This has allowed the Cassini space probe an opportunity to take visible light photographs of the region. First spotted by Voyager in 1980s, an unusual wind pattern circulates around the planet's northern pole and has been recently imaged once again. Hexagonal, not circular, in nature, a jet stream zips around Saturn at about 77 degrees north latitude.

I don't know much about the mathematics of weather systems, but I would have never guessed a hexagon. To see a short 3 frame animation of the wind pattern, check out NASA's mission page for the Cassini spacecraft.

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