Pyrian on 29/3/2007 at 00:41
Interesting. Hexagons in geology are sometimes formed from cooling columns of rock, as they are the "tidiest" shape to pack columns. Such a mechanism would involve multiple columns. Perhaps the others are hidden? (The hexagon does kind of look like an underlay in the animated .gif.)
Gussss on 29/3/2007 at 00:55
Have we sent any nukes their way yet ? I mean it is the appropriate response is it not ?
Ko0K on 29/3/2007 at 01:50
The polygonal shape of it is something that can be explained through fluid mechanics, I suppose, although it is pretty weird that the sides are about equal in length. Floating city sounds far-fetched, although it's not like there are any other feasible explanation for it, either. Pretty creepy. Then again, Saturn is weird enough already even without that.
Nicker on 29/3/2007 at 08:15
Wonders never cease.
It is very symmetrical and long-lived. And huge - earth X 4.
Interesting thing about the hexagon's perimeter is that it appears to be relatively hollow. The glow of the image is heat from the planet surface radiating upwards. Dark bands are more dense that light ones. The perimeter is made of a wide, low-density section between two thinner, denser ones. Like a hollow wall.
So is the perimeter what gives the hexagon its cohesion or is it the result of some ordered system inside or outside the perimeter? Or is it a boundary between two ordered systems?
(
http://www-ssc.igpp.ucla.edu/personnel/russell/papers/sat_mag.html) According to this source the magnetic field of Saturn is “axisymetric”. The magnetic and geographical poles line up. If the atmosphere, geo-sphere and magnetosphere are aligned, perhaps the magnetic flux contributes to the symmetry and cohesion of the hexagon.
Matthew on 29/3/2007 at 09:52
Quote Posted by Moi Dix Mois
Just to further what Pyrian said, you can find these naturally hexagonal rock formations in
Northern Ireland:
Ah yes, the Giant's Causeway. I don't know if it's similar, the Causeway's pattern was formed by variations in the cooling rate of lava flows.
Criminal on 29/3/2007 at 13:24
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Matthew on 29/3/2007 at 13:30
Frankly, if a member of the JPL calls it a hexagon, I'm inclined to call it a hexagon. Oh yeah, plus I have eyes capable of diagnosing a vague approximation of a Goddamn shape.
Chimpy Chompy on 29/3/2007 at 13:32
I'd check for monoliths, this sounds like their work to me. :o
Criminal on 29/3/2007 at 14:32
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