A new photo of Saturn's the North Pole highlights the planet's bizarre hexagon-shaped vortex, as well as its breathtaking bands of swirling winds. NASA's Cassini spacecraft managed to capture this amazing view on September 5, as the said probe flew 890,000 miles (roughly 1.4 million kilometers) above the foreign planet. The image, which NASA released on November 14, look towards the sunlit side of Saturn's rings.
The Hexagon
A six-sided jet stream is known as "the hexagon," measuring at approximately 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) wide, rapidly swirls right above Saturn's the North Pole, with wind speeds reaching upward at about 200 mph (322 km/h).
The dark spot that is seen at the center of the vortex has been believed to be the eye of the hurricane-like storm. This was according to a statement issued by NASA officials right after debuting the image.
NASA monitoring since the 80's
This unique weather system found on Saturn was first spotted by NASA's Voyager mission in as early as the 1980s. In addition to the strange hexagonal vortex, the planet also boasts thick, beautiful bands, which are created by super fast winds located in the upper atmosphere.
The phenomenon explained further
"Each latitudinal band represents rapid air flowing at different speeds, as well as clouds at different heights, compared to neighboring bands," NASA officials added in their statement. "Where they meet and flow past each other, the bands' interactions produces many circular movements and swirls."
The Probe's final year
The freshly released image captures an up-close view of Saturn's beautiful bands, which somewhat resemble the brushwork in a watercolor painting. The Cassini spacecraft has been tasked to orbit Saturn and has been doing it since 2004, providing some high-resolution images of the ringed planet along the way.
The probe is in the last year of its mission and will finally end its life with an intentional dive into the planet's atmosphere in September 2017.
