Did you know that Saturn has a hexagonal cloud pattern at its North Pole? This hexagon is a persisting cloud pattern discovered by the Voyager mission in the early 1980s and has been closely observed by the Cassini spacecraft since 2004. The hexagon is about 30,000 kilometres (18,600 miles) wide and is made of atmospheric gases moving at high speeds. The exact mechanism that creates and maintains this hexagonal shape is not completely understood, but it’s a fascinating example of the complex atmospheric dynamics of Saturn.
Gases
Saturn is not solid beneath the hexagon or anywhere else on its surface. Saturn is a gas giant, primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, with no solid surface like that of rocky planets such as Earth or Mars. The hexagon on Saturn is thought to be a weather pattern occurring in the planet’s upper atmosphere.
Beneath the cloud layers, Saturn’s atmosphere becomes denser and hotter, eventually leading to conditions where hydrogen becomes a metallic liquid. This transition occurs far below the cloud layers we can observe, such as where the hexagonal storm exists. The core of Saturn is believed to be a mix of rock, metals, and other materials, but it’s surrounded by layers of metallic hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, and the gaseous outer layer that we see. The hexagon is just a feature of the uppermost cloud layers in this complex, multi-layered atmosphere.
First discovered
The hexagon on Saturn was known about before 2004. It was first discovered by the Voyager spacecraft during its flyby of Saturn in the early 1980s. Voyager captured images of this unusual hexagonal cloud pattern at Saturn’s North Pole, intriguing scientists since its discovery.
However, it was the Cassini mission, which arrived at Saturn in 2004, that provided much more detailed and extensive observations of the hexagon. Cassini’s advanced instruments allowed scientists to study the hexagon in greater depth, including its colour changes, the movements of the clouds within it, and its behaviour over time. The long duration of the Cassini mission, which lasted until 2017, provided a wealth of data about Saturn’s atmosphere and the hexagon in particular.
No mention in mythology
No known human mythologies have described the hexagon on Saturn. It appears to be a feature that was only discovered with modern space exploration technology, specifically by the Voyager spacecraft in the early 1980s. Before the space age, the observation capabilities of humans were limited to what could be seen with telescopes from Earth, which were not nearly detailed or powerful enough to discern such specific atmospheric features on distant planets like Saturn.