I mean , just look at it . It does n’t make any sentiency . Why is there a atmospheric condition formation shaped like ahexagonat Saturn ’s N perch ? Why not a traffic circle or , I do n’t know , some unpredictable human body ? It ’s bizarre .
Scientists now consider they may be a step nigher to an solvent though . In a paper inThe Astrophysical Journal Letters , they describe how an eastward jet of hint moving around the gas giant planet may be the cause . Using computer - ground manikin , they showed how its fundamental interaction with other zephyr currents causes low disruption , which make it follow a hexangular form around the satellite ’s north perch .
The hexagon was already live to rotate at roughly the same f number as the planet itself , and their model seems to adhere to that . Moreover , it describes how the jet is potential in the cloud horizontal surface of the planet , with winds lower down maintain the hexangular cast . Models that advise the jet is scummy can not account for the hexangular shape .
" With a very simple mannequin , we have been able to cope with many of the observed properties of the hexagon , " study atomic number 82 generator Raúl Morales - Juberías , a world-wide scientist at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology , toldSpace.com .
The hexagon was first spot by flybys of the Voyager spacecraft in 1980 and 1981 , and has remain ever - present since , entail it has persisted for more than 30 Earth years , which is more than oneSaturn year , and possibly longer . It is about 32,000 kilometers ( 20,000 naut mi ) across , with a vortex tempest at its center . No other weather feature like it has been see in the Solar System .
As mark in their paper , the research worker said late studies " succeeded in reproducing some , but not all , of the hexagon ’s gadget characteristic . " This late example express how important the wind below the cloud level are in preserve the structure of the hexagon . It is these that give the hexagon its determine shape , and also prescribe its movement .
Still though , it ’s pretty damn weird .
