Saturn's Fascinating Hexagon
From 2008, in a video interview with NASA JPL scientist Kevin Baines:
In 2010, the effect was simulated in a laboratory (paper):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eH8dJgJG-c
However, it is still unknown what would cause a jet streams to generate such a hexagon on Saturn:
The experimenters postulate that a similar process is occurring on Saturn where the cylinder would be analogous to Saturn’s rotation and the “jet stream” would be analogous to an actual jet stream with an angular velocity greater than that of the planet’s rotation. It is still unknown what exactly would generate such a jet stream and especially one at just the right angular velocity to produce a hexagon.
I love stuff like this. It’s not so much the speculation and suspicion of something or someone else having created it—and it’s highly unlikely that this is anything but a natural phenomenon—but rather knowing that this is completely weird, and we have no clue why it’s there. It’s nice to be reminded at times that there are a lot of things we don’t know very much about—fuel for any inquisitive scientist!
via reddit