Pyrian on 29/3/2007 at 21:16
Quote:
That looks very similar to the bubbles, i.e. the pressure forcing something which would normally have a round shape into a hexagonal shape.
Yeah, pretty much the only reason you'd expect to see hexagons in nature is the (mathematically proven) fact that it's the most efficient way to pack identical circles. Each of the examples we've seen in this thread (and thanks to everyone who's contributed) is fundamentally related to that. However, they all involve
sets rather than one, which still brings us back to the question of whether there are other "bubbles" pushing in, and, if so, why they're not visible.
Convection currents are certainly in play (essentially ubiquitous in air/fluid dynamics), so that may be a better analogy than the cooling-lava formations. (I wonder if comparable convection currents are driving the rock-hexagon formations as the lava cools?)
If the Saturn hexagon's rotation matches the radio emissions, then clearly there's got to be a link, and that link is most likely related to Saturn's magnetic field. I'm not sure how a magnetic field would create such a pattern in itself, but it might drive the formation of some kind of massive bubble-like convection structures.
Perhaps - and this is pure speculation - perhaps convection currents deep in Saturn's core are creating a set of huge hexagonal structures. Meanwhile, only this one is actually causing a visible impact all the way at the top, perhaps carried - or allowed to be carried - somehow by the magnetic field?
Schattentänzer on 29/3/2007 at 21:20
I wonder if it might be a crystaline structure. Like a huge snowflake... but I never heard of gas behaving like that. Although I've read somewhere that Saturn's gravity and climate makes gas behave oddly, I remember something about Helium taking metalic shape in the core.
*Zaccheus* on 29/3/2007 at 21:45
Quote Posted by The Alchemist
He said
if you add another bubble it would become a hexagon, and it would. Right?
POUNCE POUNCE ARGUE.
:cheeky:
Quote Posted by Pyrian
... somehow by the magnetic field?
Perhaps.
It should be noted that this thing is "circling the entire north pole", as NASA put it.
Martin Karne on 29/3/2007 at 21:51
I wonder who is going to be the crack head who'll send an automated probe to turn that huge bolt nut over the north pole.
"I wanna see what happens!!"
:p
Martek on 29/3/2007 at 22:15
In all those other examples of things pushing into things, resulting in (sets of) hexagon(s), would those other hexagonal examples allow for that apparent rotation on the Saturn hexagon? Do some of them also rotate?
Would seem the hexagon "edges" would prevent rotation or cause some sort of deformation - not a more or less cleanly turning hexagon.
/scratch head
Martek
Agent Monkeysee on 30/3/2007 at 01:10
Reading this thread after Criminal edited all his posts is like sharing the forums with an irate wookiee.
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Of course it's a hexagon, you retard
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I think you can trust JPL
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Now who's using ad hominems
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You said it Criminal, where did you dig up that old fossil?
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Laugh it up fuzzball
demagogue on 30/3/2007 at 01:52
(interrupting) "Let him have it. It's not wise to upset a Wookiee."
Quote:
Would seem the hexagon "edges" would prevent rotation or cause some sort of deformation - not a more or less cleanly turning hexagon.
Not if the whole system is spinning ... the whole planet is gaseous and liquid ... there's nothing really "solid" to keep it nailed down.
As for the bubble theory, there'd have to be something doing the pushing. First rule of pressure is that it's contained with the smallest surface area possible, which is going to be a circle/sphere unless something is tweaking where the pressure can go.
Oh, I take it back my first quote.
It'd be a shame to loose probably the best observation in this whole thread.
Pyrian on 30/3/2007 at 02:11
Quote Posted by Martek
Would seem the hexagon "edges" would prevent rotation or cause some sort of deformation - not a more or less cleanly turning hexagon.
Well, yes, you'd
expect a circle/ovoid like the rest of the cloud formations on Saturn (and Jupiter and Uranus and Nepture). Nonetheless, it's not hard to explain something rotating at the pole of a planet - planets do that.
Quote Posted by demagogue
As for the bubble theory, there'd have to be something doing the pushing. First rule of pressure is that it's contained with the smallest surface area possible, which is going to be a circle/sphere unless something is tweaking where the pressure can go.
Right now I'm thinking multiple (7+) convection currents as the "pushers".
