Wednesday, 2 October 2024

Saturn's Hexagonal storm, Mysteriously Beautiful.

About Saturn:

Saturn is a Gas Giant planet, it is one of the largest planets in our Solar system, just next to Jupiter. It has a Beautiful Ring Surrounding it, It is the Sixth planet in our solar system. 
However, it has a Huge storm on top of it, It is called "The Hexagonal Storm", It's name came from its persistent Hexagonal Shape [a 2-Dimensional shape with 6 edges], Here is a Picture of it from Cassini Spacecraft:



"Hexagonal Storm image from Cassini Spacecraft"

Location:

Its located on Saturn Northpole.The sides of the hexagon are about 14,500 km (9,000 mi) long, which is about 2,000 km (1,200 mi) longer than the diameter of Earth.

The hexagon may be a bit more than 29,000 km (18,000 mi) wide, may be 300 km (190 mi) high, and may be a jet stream made of atmospheric gases moving at 320 km/h (200 mph). It rotates with a Period of 10h 39m and 24s

Colour:

Its Colour can also change from time to time, As shown Below:


Hexagon Colour 2013 [left] vs 2017 [right] [From Cassini]

Between 2013 and 2017, the hexagon changed from a mostly blue colour to more of a golden colour. One theory for this is that sunlight is creating haze as the pole is exposed to sunlight due to the change in season. These changes were observed by the Cassini Probe.

Explanation:

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 Saturn's atmosphere.

 Similar regular shapes were created in the laboratory when a circular tank of liquid was rotated at different speeds at its centre and periphery. The most common shape was six sided, but shapes with three to eight sides were also produced. The shapes form in an area of turbulent flow between the two different rotating fluid bodies with dissimilar speeds. 

A number of stable vortices of similar size form on the slower (south) side of the fluid boundary and these interact with each other to space themselves out evenly around the perimeter. The presence of the vortices influences the boundary to move northward where each is present and this gives rise to the polygon effect. 

Polygons do not form at wind boundaries unless the speed differential and viscosity parameters are within certain margins and so are not present at other likely places, such as Saturn's south pole or the poles of Jupiter.


False-color image from the Cassini probe of the central vortex deep inside the hexagon formation. [Nasa]



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