Saturns hexagon

urns atmosphere.[13] Similar regular shapes were created

in the laboratory when a circular tank of liquid was rotated at dierent speeds at its centre and periphery. The
most common shape was six sided, but shapes from two
to eight sided were also produced. The shapes form in an
area of turbulent ow between the two dierent rotating
uid bodies with dissimilar speeds.[14][13] A number of
stable vortices of similar size form on the slower (south)
side of the uid boundary and these interact with each
other to space themselves out evenly around the perimeter. The presence of the vortices inuences the boundary
to move northward where each is present and this gives
rise to the polygon eect.[14] Polygons do not form at wind
boundaries unless the speed dierential and viscosity parameters are within certain margins and so are not present
at other likely places, such as Saturns south pole or the
poles of Jupiter.
Saturn - North polar hexagon and vortex as well as rings (April
2, 2014).

2 Gallery

Saturns hexagon is a persisting hexagonal cloud pattern around the north pole of Saturn, located at about
78N.[1][2][3] The sides of the hexagon are about 13,800
km (8,600 mi) long, which is more than the diameter of
Earth.[4] It rotates with a period of 10h 39m 24s, the same
period as Saturns radio emissions from its interior.[5]
However, the hexagon does not shift in longitude like
other clouds in the visible atmosphere.[6]

Cassini imaged this on March 22, 2014 (MT2 and

CL2 lters)
True color imaging
Saturns north pole , true color[1]

Saturns south pole does not have a hexagon, according

to Hubble observations.[7] But it does have a vortex, and
there is also a vortex inside the northern hexagon.

View from about 630,000 kilometres (390,000 mi)

away at 938 nm (near-IR)

Saturns polar hexagon discovery was made by the

Voyager mission in 198182,[8] and it was revisited since
2006 by the Cassini mission.[9] Cassini was only able
to take thermal infrared images of the hexagon, until it
came in the sunlight in January 2009.[10] Cassini was also
able to take a video of the hexagonal weather pattern
while traveling at the same speed as the planet, therefore
recording only the movement of the hexagon.[11] After its
discovery, and after it came back into the sunlight, amateur astronomers managed to get a blurry view of the
hexagon from Earth.[12]

False color imaging

Infrared view
Closer view of the large vortex inside the hexagon
on Saturn.
Animation (infrared)
1. ^ NASA

3 See also

Explanation

Conservation of angular momentum

One hypothesis, developed at Oxford University, is that

the hexagon forms where there is a steep latitudinal
gradient in the speed of the atmospheric winds in Sat-

Reynolds number
1

References

[1] Godfrey, D. A. (1988).

A hexagonal feature
around Saturns North Pole. Icarus 76 (2): 335.
Bibcode:1988Icar...76..335G.
doi:10.1016/00191035(88)90075-9.
[2] Snchez-Lavega, A.; Lecacheux, J.; Colas, F.; Laques,
P. (April 16, 1993). Ground-based observations of
Saturns north polar SPOT and hexagon. Science
(American Association for the Advancement of Science)
260 (5106): 32932. Bibcode:1993Sci...260..329S.
doi:10.1126/science.260.5106.329. PMID 17838249.
[3] Overbye, Dennis (August 6, 2014). Storm Chasing on
Saturn. New York Times. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
[4] New images show Saturns weird hexagon cloud.
MSNBC. December 12, 2009. Archived from the original on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
[5] Godfrey, D. A. (March 9, 1990). The Rotation
Period of Saturns Polar Hexagon.
Science 247
(4947): 12061208. Bibcode:1990Sci...247.1206G.
doi:10.1126/science.247.4947.1206. PMID 17809277.
[6] Baines, Kevin H. et al. (December 2009). Saturns north polar cyclone and hexagon at depth revealed
by Cassini/VIMS. Planetary and Space Science 57
(1415): 16711681. Bibcode:2009P&SS...57.1671B.
doi:10.1016/j.pss.2009.06.026.
[7] Snchez-Lavega, S. Prez-Hoyos (Universidad Pais Vasco
(Spain)), R. G. French (Wellesley College), A.; PrezHoyos, S.; French, R. G. (October 8, 2002). Hubble
Space Telescope Observations of the Atmospheric Dynamics in Saturns South Pole from 1997 to 2002.
American Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
[8] Caldwell, John; Benoit, Turgeon; Hua, Xin-Min; Barnet, Christopher D.; Westphal, James A. (April 16,
1993). The Drift of Saturns North Polar Spot Observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Science (AAAS)
260 (5106): 326329. Bibcode:1993Sci...260..326C.
doi:10.1126/science.260.5106.326. ISSN 0036-8075.
PMID 17838248. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
[9] Saturns Strange Hexagon. NASA. March 27, 2007.
Retrieved 2013-05-01.
[10] Saturns Mysterious Hexagon Emerges From Winter
Darkness. NASA. December 9, 2009. Retrieved 201305-01.
[11] NASAs Cassini Spacecraft Obtains Best Views of Saturn Hexagon. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA). December 4, 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
[12] TPS
[13] Barbosa Aguiar, Ana C.; Read, Peter L.; Wordsworth,
Robin D.; Salter, Tara; Yamazaki, Y. Hiro (April
2010).
A laboratory model of Saturns North
Icarus 206 (2):
755763.
Polar Hexagon.
doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2009.10.022.

EXTERNAL LINKS

[14] Lakdawalla, Emily (4 May 2010). Saturns hexagon

recreated in the laboratory. Planetary.org. Retrieved
2014-02-07.

5 External links
Saturn Revolution 175, Cassini images, November
27, 2012
Saturns Strange Hexagon In Living Color! - Universe Today
Edge of the hexagon from Planetary Photojournal
Saturns Hexagon Comes to Light, APOD January
22, 2012
In the Center of Saturns North Polar Vortex,
Astronomy Picture of the Day - December 4, 2012
Video of hexagons rotation from NASA
NASAs Cassini Spacecraft Obtains Best Views of
Saturn Hexagon (December 4, 2013)
Animated vortex view (TPS)
http://www.ciclops.org////view_media.php?id=
38331

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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Saturns hexagon Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn's%20hexagon?oldid=639833220 Contributors: Hike395, Jeq, Lumos3,

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