Saturn's North Pole Hexagon

[13 Rabbit]

What "in the world" would cause this?
I've seen hexagon shaped craters on other bodies also.
Carl Sagon said "Imagine the wierdest thing you can, and there is something out there which is weirder."

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassi ... index.html

[13 Rabbit]

Many of the craters are hexagons.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060530.html

[Qev]

I'm guessing it's some sort of standing wave phenomenon.

http://www.physorg.com/news66924222.html

[kovil]

I seem to remember a hexagonal shape to a polar photo of Saturn some years ago of its northern lights, this showed up so far.
The guessed at reason then, was an additional dimension showing itself, how wacky.

http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2 ... test10.jpg

Here is one of Jupiter's polar lights, and at the page bottom is Earth's ozone hole looking rather like it wants to be square or five sided, like the water experiment page !

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003 ... rkspot.htm

Sometimes the simplest experiment says volumes about the Truth of Nature.
The water experiment, and the Foucault Pendulum experiment.

[makc]

looky here:

Swirling clouds marking regularly spaced major weather systems are also prominent.

[l3p3r]

Very spectacular! It's rare we see pictures that invoke such a tremendous sense of curiosity!

The second reply to this thread contains a good suggestion for the cause of this phenomena.

What a beautiful example of Benard-Marangoni convection!!

Interestingly, in 1985 I published a paper on the mechanism of film striations in spin coating silicon wafers with very thin films of liquid photoresist on wafers, and showed that the film striations were formed from centrifugaly stretched Benard-Marangoni cells. In the center of a spin-coated wafer, where the stresses from wafer rotation were minimal (zero)you would always find a microscopic hexagon.

Of course the scale of what I was researching at the time was measured in micrometers, but the physics is exactly the same. It is so interesting what I observed on a micrometer scale is exactly what is obsered on a 20,000 km scale!

The Saturnian pole will have the least rotational distortion to inhibit Benard-Marangoni cell convection, and hence a hexagon is observed.

As one move away from the pole, rotational spin will drag other convection cells into bands. This is exactly what is observed. The exact same thing I observed when we spin-casted a liquid film on a wafer.

This is very exciting, and I am betting that thermally driven Marangoni-Benard cell convection on a massive scale will be the explanation of the phenomena after the research is complete.

Now I will go read the article.

I am posting a diagram I found on the web about Marangoni cell formation in crystallizing a rotating melt.

[Andy Wade]

Very spectacular! It's rare we see pictures that invoke such a tremendous sense of curiosity!

The second reply to this thread contains a good suggestion for the cause of this phenomena.

What a beautiful example of Benard-Marangoni convection!!

Interestingly, in 1985 I published a paper on the mechanism of film striations in spin coating silicon wafers with very thin films of liquid photoresist on wafers, and showed that the film striations were formed from centrifugaly stretched Benard-Marangoni cells. In the center of a spin-coated wafer, where the stresses from wafer rotation were minimal (zero)you would always find a microscopic hexagon.

Of course the scale of what I was researching at the time was measured in micrometers, but the physics is exactly the same. It is so interesting what I observed on a micrometer scale is exactly what is obsered on a 20,000 km scale!

The Saturnian pole will have the least rotational distortion to inhibit Benard-Marangoni cell convection, and hence a hexagon is observed.

As one move away from the pole, rotational spin will drag other convection cells into bands. This is exactly what is observed. The exact same thing I observed when we spin-casted a liquid film on a wafer.

This is very exciting, and I am betting that thermally driven Marangoni-Benard cell convection on a massive scale will be the explanation of the phenomena after the research is complete.

Now I will go read the article.

I am posting a diagram I found on the web about Marangoni cell formation in crystallizing a rotating melt.

I've drilled a few holes in bits of metal over the years and if you ever have to countersink a hole, and the countersinking bit vibrates in the hole, you get a hexagonal shape This is because the centre of the bit is not held precisely in place and the tip of the bit can move around in the hole, allowing it to wobble.
Almost every time it is a hexagon.
I did wonder if it Saturn's hexagon was just a 'wobbling' effect.

[Jon Ebert]

I think part of the answer can be found here. The drill bit analogy is a step in the right direction.

http://www.wordsmith.org/~anu/java/spirograph.html

JE

[shechaiyah]

As I recall, and I had the link on a previous computer but not anymore, there was one of these whirleegigs at the south pole of jupiter, also.

Anybody else remember that, about five years ago, seeing a hexagonal stirring mechanism at the bottom of Jupiter? It was almost as if Jupiter was a mixing bowl of pudding and something was mechanically stirring its atmosphere. It was quite remarkable, just like this one.

Looks like technology to me. The other one did too.

:shrug:

Chai

[13 Rabbit]

Saturns South Pole shows hexagon corner also...

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061113.html[/url]

[shechaiyah]

Object not found! No page.


Sorry, Rabbit, maybe you didn't get what I was saying.

I said, about five years ago, this type of hexagonal stirring-thing was shown to be at the south pole of JUPITER, not Saturn.

I just wondered if anybody remembered that.

:shrug:

Chai

[BMAONE23]

i believe thet the [url] code at the end is throwing off the link, it should be http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061113.html

[shechaiyah]

I've seen this.

It's not what I'm talking about : the south pole of JUPITER in about 2002.

I don't have time to re-research it today. I've got a book to get out.

I'll stick this in my TICKLER FILE.

Have a nice day.

Chai

[13 Rabbit]

After looking for an hour, I found this image:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/figure ... 4_fig1.jpg

Do not see a hexagon.

Is that circular thing in the middle of the image part of the camera, a filter, or what? its blocking the good stuff.

[BMAONE23]

I would wager that the circle in the center is the result iof incomplete information about the polar region that was then colored to match the surrounding area so it wouldn't look like a black eye.

this north polar view http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/figure ... 3_fig1.jpg is more complete

[iamlucky13]

I think part of the answer can be found here. The drill bit analogy is a step in the right direction.

http://www.wordsmith.org/~anu/java/spirograph.html

JE

It's a harmonics thing. For a drillbit, it depends on the radius of the original hole and the radius of the drillbit, and I think the radius of the gyration, too.

With the spirograph (that link is awesome, btw. Thanks), its about the ratios of the outer circle, inner, circle, and moving circle offset, which I think are the same respective factors as in the drillbit case.

I was playing around with the spirograph to figure out what ratio would give us a hexagon. I found it's a 6:5 ratio of fixed circle radius to moving circle radius (the inner circle rotates 6 times, while revolving around the outer circle 5 times). You get similar results with a 6:7 ratio, but the angles show up inverted.

Try it yourselves. It's a good math exercise, and if you set the first three parameters to 12, -10, and 50, you get a shape pretty much like the outline of the Saturn south pole storm.

[13 Rabbit]

I see a vague hexagon.

[sacolton]

I'm always fascinated by photos of planets. I wonder what it would be like to stand on the surface of Saturn. Is there a theory written what each planet would be like from the surface?

- sacolton

[Astronom]

Maybe, Hexagon at Saturn is a whirlpool that formed at atmosphere of Saturn.Interesting and mysterious..
Below image(an infrared image) is took by Cassini.Its width is about 25.000 kilometers...