Watch: SATURN’S TRIPPY JET STREAM
Up at Saturn’s north pole is a pretty bananas circulation of gas. Said circulation of gas forms the “north polar vortex” and the whole son of a bitch not only forms a hexagon, but it’s enormous. Astronomers have released a gif of the highest-definition capture of this vortex yet, and it’s trippy.
Hit the jump for more details and to check it out.
Saturn is a gas giant planet, nine times wider than Earth, and mostly atmosphere. We don’t see its surface as such, but the top of its clouds. That means we peer down on a wildly dynamic environment, in some ways like Earth and in others, well, alien.
And sometimes both. Sitting over the planet’s north pole is a vast circulation pattern of gas called the north polar vortex: 20,000 kilometers (12,000 miles) across, it forms a surprisingly regular hexagon, with winds and storms churning around inside it.
A new animated image above of the six-sided system was just released by astronomers, and is the first to show the motion of the vortex in color, and is the highest-resolution full view of it so far.
