Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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Distant Mystery
March 27, 2007 5:06 PM
Take a look at this picture. You can click to enlarge.
I don't want to be a tease about what it is--it's the north pole of Saturn, shot by the Cassini probe in the infrared--but the real question is why it is. Where did that hexagonal shape come from? NASA says "this and other images acquired over a 12-day period between Oct. 30 and Nov. 11, 2006, show that the feature is nearly stationary, and likely is an unusually strong pole-encircling planetary wave that extends deep into the atmosphere." More HERE.
You may recall from earlier images that Cassini is now in an orbit around Saturn that takes it high over both poles, with very striking results (see our slide show HERE), but this is one of the first night polar images to come out.
No, there's no monolith in the center.
March 27, 2007 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (18)
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Perhaps Richard Hoagland was right.....
Posted by: Gre | Mar 27, 2007 8:00:15 PM
A marvelous photo! It's a pity that we can't take photos in the clearing of the "planetary wave" (and this term sounds like it was lifted from an episode of "Star Trek: the Next Generation") to get a better idea of Saturn's atmosphere.
Posted by: chuck | Mar 28, 2007 8:13:37 AM
Wow, that is really cool looking! Is the south pole of Saturn also shaped in an hexagon? This picture was taken at night, are these polar waves in any way similar to our Northern Lights?
Posted by: Kerri | Mar 28, 2007 1:12:01 PM
How do you know that there is no monolith in the center?
Posted by: Don | Mar 28, 2007 1:31:26 PM
Hello from Ned--
Thanks for some marvelous comments, and for a good sense of humor. A quick answer to Kerri--Saturn's southern hemisphere doesn't have anything similar that I know of, though it does seem to have what looks like a giant hurricane in progress.
What you're seeing in this infrared image, most likely, are "pressure waves" causing breaks in Saturn's clouds. If I understand right, it's a little more like, say, a cold front on earth than an aurora.
And Don, I have no way at all, none whatever, of knowing there's no monolith in the center.
Posted by: Ned Potter | Mar 28, 2007 2:18:16 PM
Obviously it is the bolt holding the rings into place
Posted by: Dave | Mar 29, 2007 6:27:32 AM
They're a heck of a lot better at crop circles than we are.
Posted by: Jill | Mar 29, 2007 10:22:40 AM
I'll bet there is a monolith, and it's hexagonal. I don't suppose it could be artifact from the camera's iris, could it?
Posted by: Andy | Mar 29, 2007 10:50:59 AM
What if aliens know we're watching them and their trying to communicate with us?
Posted by: Dude | Mar 29, 2007 1:59:52 PM
i bet it's a alien spaceport, where aliens landed on that planet and left a spaceport or landing area. if they dont actually visit in our three dimensions but rather travel in another dimension, they could easily go undetected. the only time we would see them is when they change into our visable method .. maybe they use cloak!
Posted by: justin robbins | Mar 29, 2007 4:17:23 PM
I remember reading recently of research involving spinning liquid in a bucket which somewhat counter-intuitively took on various stable geometric shapes at different speeds including a hexagon.This appears to be a perfect example.Here is a link to the article;
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060515/full/060515-17.html
There may not be a monolith but someone apparently built one huge bucket! Imagine the technical advancement of such a civilisation!
Posted by: MARK MORRISON | Mar 29, 2007 8:50:23 PM
its aliens i just know it ive seen it before in a dream
Posted by: mark | Mar 29, 2007 9:12:02 PM
Ain't science grand?
Posted by: Andy | Mar 30, 2007 9:31:14 AM
it's the clouds covering Gods chariot.
Posted by: chephzibah | Mar 30, 2007 10:29:02 AM
Loose axle bearing nut.
Posted by: Quietman | Mar 30, 2007 11:23:41 AM
hello Ned Potter this is a very big brain buster. It makes you think what would cause such a very stange thing to happen.
Posted by: david | Mar 30, 2007 10:33:35 PM
The fact that it's a hexagon suggests intelligence!
Posted by: Gerald | Apr 3, 2007 4:09:41 PM
Hexagon structures in 3-D spinning objects were predicted by Gimli theory some 5 years ago. The phenomena is in part due to the homopolar generator effect and is charge based. I expect the hexagon to be a positive charge phenomenon. A related effect also creates the red-spot on Jupiter and mantle hot-spots here on planet Earth.
I still have the original model from 2002 - I figured one day it may have historical interest.
cheers,
Marts Liena
Posted by: Marts | Apr 20, 2007 7:39:15 AM
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