Six-sided feature encircling the north pole of Saturn

Well I never!!

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedi...m?imageID=2552

A bizarre six-sided feature encircling the north pole of Saturn near 78
degrees north latitude has been spied by the visual and infrared mapping
spectrometer on NASA's Cassini spacecraft. This image is one of the first
clear images ever taken of the north polar region as seen from a unique
polar perspective.
Originally discovered and last observed by a spacecraft during NASA's
Voyager flybys of the early 1980's, the new views of this polar hexagon
taken in late 2006 prove that this is an unusually long-lived feature on
Saturn.

This image is the first to capture the entire feature and north polar region
in one shot, and is also the first polar view using Saturn's thermal glow at
5 microns (seven times the wavelength visible to the human eye) as the light
source. This allows the pole to be revealed during the nighttime conditions
presently underway during north polar winter. Previous images from Voyager
and from ground-based telescopes suffered from poor viewing perspectives,
which placed the feature and the north pole at the extreme northern limb
(edge) of the planet.

To see the deep atmosphere at night, the infrared instrument images the
thermal glow radiating from Saturn's depths. Clouds at depths about 75
kilometers (47 miles) lower than the clouds seen at visible wavelengths
block this light, appearing dark in silhouette. To show clouds as features
that are bright or white rather than dark, the original image has been
contrast reversed to produce the image shown here. The nested set of
alternating white and dark hexagons indicates that the hexagonal complex
extends deep into the atmosphere, at least down to the 3-Earth-atmosphere
pressure level, some 75 kilometers (47 miles) underneath the clouds seen by
Voyager. Multiple images acquired over a 12-day period between Oct. 30 and
Nov. 11, 2006, show that the feature is nearly stationary, and likely is an
unusually strong pole-encircling planetary wave that extends deep into the
atmosphere.

This image was acquired on Oct. 29, 2006, from an average distance of
902,000 kilometers (560,400 miles) above the cloud tops of Saturn.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the
mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini
orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and
Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona,
where this image was produced.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The visual and infrared mapping
spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu.

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

"Claire Hemmings" wrote in message
...

Well I never!!

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedi...m?imageID=2552


Complexity out of seeming chaos...
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/0605...060515-17.html Where's that
James Gleik book?

C

"Claire Hemmings" wrote in message
...

"Claire Hemmings" wrote in message
...

Well I never!!

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedi...m?imageID=2552


Complexity out of seeming chaos...
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/0605...060515-17.html Where's that
James Gleik book?

C


Aaaargh..... It's Klingons, going one better than the Pentagon.....

On Mar 30, 5:21 am, "Claire Hemmings" wrote:

puzzle, Cannot say if I am original...

Max area of 4x overlap-g circles within a reg hexagon?: Six-sided
feature encircling the north pole of Saturn

Maximum area of 4x overlapping circles within a regular hexagon?
(Unit radius and side.)

extension.
4x identical plane circles within a plane hexagon...

overlapping // non overlapping etc.

interesting photograph in local newspaper.

don.mcdonald lotto nz
30.3.07

Well I never!!

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedi...ils.cfm?imageI...

A bizarre six-sided feature encircling the north pole ofSaturnnear 78
degrees north latitude has been spied by the visual and infrared mapping
spectrometer onNASA'sCassinispacecraft. This image is one of the first
clear images ever taken of the north polar region as seen from a unique
polar perspective.
Originally discovered and last observed by a spacecraft duringNASA's
Voyager flybys of the early 1980's, the new views of this polarhexagon
taken in late 2006 prove that this is an unusually long-lived feature onSaturn.

This image is the first to capture the entire feature and north polar region
in one shot, and is also the first polar view usingSaturn'sthermal glow at
5 microns (seven times the wavelength visible to the human eye) as the light
source. This allows the pole to be revealed during the nighttime conditions
presently underway during north polar winter. Previous images from Voyager
and from ground-based telescopes suffered from poor viewing perspectives,
which placed the feature and the north pole at the extreme northern limb
(edge) of the planet.

To see the deep atmosphere at night, the infrared instrument images the
thermal glow radiating fromSaturn'sdepths. Clouds at depths about 75
kilometers (47 miles) lower than the clouds seen at visible wavelengths
block this light, appearing dark in silhouette. To show clouds as features
that are bright or white rather than dark, the original image has been
contrast reversed to produce the image shown here. The nested set of
alternating white and dark hexagons indicates that the hexagonal complex
extends deep into the atmosphere, at least down to the 3-Earth-atmosphere
pressure level, some 75 kilometers (47 miles) underneath the clouds seen by
Voyager. Multiple images acquired over a 12-day period between Oct. 30 and
Nov. 11, 2006, show that the feature is nearly stationary, and likely is an
unusually strong pole-encircling planetary wave that extends deep into the
atmosphere.

This image was acquired on Oct. 29, 2006, from an average distance of
902,000 kilometers (560,400 miles) above the cloud tops ofSaturn.

TheCassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project ofNASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the
mission forNASA'sScience Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. TheCassini
orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and
Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona,
where this image was produced.

For more information about theCassini-Huygens mission visithttp://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The visual and infrared mapping
spectrometer team homepage is athttp://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu.

Credit:NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

wrote:

Max area of 4x overlap-g circles within a reg hexagon?: Six-sided
feature encircling the north pole of Saturn

Must there be an area overlapped by all four circles, or is it
sufficient that any two of the four circles overlap?

Looks like one circle should have the same center as the hexagon,
and touch all six sides, while the other three fill parts of
three different corners. The tricky part is the size and placement
of those last three.

Does the size of the hexagon relative to the sphere make a
difference? Does the plane solution equal the limit of the
sphere solution as the ratio of sizes approaches zero?

Hexagonal networks of convection cells occur in nature; I don't see why
this is surprising. (If the feature is a convection cell.)

Is there any evidence of adjoining hexagonal cells? The original post
hinted that there was such evidence. That would strengthen the theory that
the main feature is a convection cell.


Martin
--
M.A.Poyser Tel.: 07967 110890
Manchester, U.K. http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=fleetie