Saturn's Hexagon

[Addendum: About a day after writing this, it occurred to me that people might assume it is some sort of April Fool's joke. Amazingly it is not. However, I have managed to discover a more plausible explanation for Saturn's hexagon.]

Remember the Cassini probe to Saturn and its moon Titan? Well, it's still going strong. The above image shows a distinct hexagonal formation directly above Saturn's north pole. The shape is 15,000 miles wide (large enough to encompass nearly four Earths). Apparently the Voyager probes had detected it on their flybys in the 80s, but this is the first time that the entire hexagon has been captured in a single image. And it confirms that this is a real longterm (perhaps permanent) phenomenon. What I find interesting is that so far, scientists haven't put forth even the most tentative theory as to how such a structure could form or maintain itself. (Obviously it was built by intelligent Saturnians.)

Saturn's south pole has a radically different, yet no less dramatic, appearance. It actually looks to have a form more appropriate to Uranus.

Comments

[Mauricio Barrios]

Dude, sorry for the off-topic message. Do you still have that Chacrinha's DVD? What's its size? What should I do to get a copy? :-) How can I reach you in a private way?

Thanks,
Mauricio

[Owen]

That North Pole is a sweet roll, a sticky confection.

It kind of disturbs me that most galactic phenomena suggest we're all sucking in or out of something's bung hole.

[tvindy]

Mauricio, just e-mail me with your postal address, and I'll send you a copy. My e-mail address is tvindy[AT]yahoo[DOT]com.

Owen, just wait until we start seeing images of dark matter. That's the stuffing of the universe's intestines.

[Owen]

One: Can't wait for images of dark matter, pun aside.

Two: About the addendum--I looked at that article. Very cool and interesting, thanks.

[Geoff]

Perhaps Saturn is hiding a giant snowflake?

[tvindy]

Geoff, you mean like Stargate Atlantis?

[Geoff]

Yes, that is definitely the sort of thing I had in mind.

[Geoff]

The cosmos also has a Red Square. Follow the links to find the double helix nebula or the ghostly visage. I am sure there are even more geometrical shapes out there!

[tvindy]

Geoff, that double helix nebula is especially intriguing. (It must be God's DNA.) Also interesting, check out this Native American face etched into the land of Canada.

['mouse]

Uranus. [groan]

[crazee arrows]

saturns hexagon versus the wormhole theory?

[chandler y beatty]

Light the universal connection. musings coming in new book, Einstiens direction of thought was hidden by purposeful misleadings. The answers have been known to the few since the 1920's. How would you go about revealing that you've lied to the masses of civilization and then tell them our time is finite. 2012 the planets align and the few will move to the next step, too bad they didnt give the planet a chance to prove we in all our differences could have handled the truth no matter how startling and stuck together like we have been told to in all forms, since the dawn of time

[Bob]

If I remember correctly the experiement with the water based geometric shapes in the spinning bucket was dependent on the bucket having SIDES... A planet does not have sides. This is why the real scientists have not suggested this as a model for the hexagon. Good try though...