20 yr old hexagon on Saturn's northern pole

[menaceh2k]

So I was watching this history channel or discovery channel episode on the planet Saturn ( clip YouTube- The Mystery Hexagon on SATURN) and a portion of it dealt with this strange six sided hexagonal cloud or shape that is at the pole. Scientist have no idea what it is, but its cool. Richard C. Hoagland supposedly has the answer, but I don't think he is all there. No offense to his fans. Oh if only we were not so busy killing each other in wars and stuff, we could explore the solar system and find new and interesting stuff. Is it an Alien hideout, that would be interesting, an opening of an interdimensional vortex? Unfortunately, I don't think so. I think I might just be a combination of the planets magnetic field, high pressure gases forming this stable structure. I would say its an Bose-Eisenstein condensate, but I'm sure the planet is too hot, i think.

Oh so much more to learn about our lil neighborhood. I hope we have enough time, before we become extinct and all. any thoughts on this phenomenon.

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

I feel like this is a practical joke, based on Arthur C. Clarke's "2010" and the monoliths.

 

[Cognisant]

Shapes like that form naturally in crystalline structures, perhaps some sort of chemical reaction occurred at Saturn’s northern pole and given stable conditions it somehow grew into this massive structure, which may or may not even be solid.
Or perhaps magnetic fields create shapes like this when in effect as this scale.

Is it an Alien hideout, that would be interesting, an opening of an interdimensional vortex?

It dosen't seem likely, then agian I have no idea how aliens extract raw materials from gas giants, which would be my guess.

*watches video again, carefully*

1. The Hexagon is rotating.
2. Wind speeds appear slower within it.
3. There appears to be a darker circle at its centre.

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

Wasn't there something else about the hexagon rotating at the same rate that saturn's radiowaves rotate?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn#North_pole_hexagon_cloud_pattern

The straight sides of the northern polar hexagon are each about 13 800 km long. The entire structure rotates with a period of 10h 39 m 24s, the same period as that of the planet's radio emissions, which is assumed to be equal to the period of rotation of Saturn's interior. The hexagonal feature does not shift in longitude like the other clouds in the visible atmosphere.

So, the interior of Saturn (whether it's gas or solid) has formed some kind of crystalline structure that might send magnetic waves out in a certain pattern, causing the hexagon.

I wonder why the south pole doesn't have one.....

 

[menaceh2k]

I wonder why the south pole doesn't have one.....

Yeah that's the other strange part.


Maybe this could have something to do with it?

http://lasp.colorado.edu/education/outerplanets/giantplanets_magnetospheres.php

Perhaps Jupiter's magnetosphere is propagating the planet's strange radio emissions pastern that cause this phenomenon. Man this is so hard to figure out with the small amounts of data we have.

Private companies need to start sending low cost satellites and probes to explore these things. they can save money by riding the solar winds lol. NASA is just underfunded and they are quickly becoming antiquated. Its 2010, we need to rev up space exploration (manned/unmanned). There are, I'm sure more cost efficient ways to send probes into orbit, since cold war space program budget is no longer available. Why don't we use all the excess waves in space to facilitate communication with our probes. Then again, I guess we have to know more about how they actually work.

 

[Cognisant]

Why don't we use all the excess waves in space to facilitate communication with our probes.

Communications aren’t the problem, it's getting the probes into space that's costly, I also have no idea what your on about.

 

[menaceh2k]

Communications aren’t the problem, it's getting the probes into space that's costly, I also have no idea what your on about.

I guess I was vague. Nowadays it is possible to use balloons to get into the earth's upper orbit. If that is a cheaper option than chemically propelled rockets, perhaps a combination of the two can be used. Ballon the craft to the upper stratosphere then propel it for the final lap.

Now here is what I was referring too. If the process above works and is significantly cheaper to use, or some other low cost process are discovered, then there will perhaps be many space bound satellites and probes. The further they are away , the longer it takes for them to communicate with earth (moon base?). I don't know how typical satellites currently relay data back to earth, I just know that there is a significant delay. I was suggesting that we use, or learn if it is possible to use all of the electromagnetic waves in space as a transmission medium to facilitate communication between remote satellites and home base.

I guess the other option would be to use several satellites as relay points. one in between each planet, or some kind of web between each planet's orbital circumference, that will amplify signal's sent from satellites at the far end of the solar system and beyond. basically " telephone lines" in space, or "cellphone towers" in space. data Storage has reached outrageous capacities, same for processing, thrown in some fancy peripherals on the satellites/relay stations, we get real time data from a project on one of Jupiter's moon. real time data from the first Pluto landing. We find out in real time WTF is going on on Saturn's north pole.

blah blah blah. just a taught.

 

[Shatokan]

I guess I was vague. Nowadays it is possible to use balloons to get into the earth's upper orbit. If that is a cheaper option than chemically propelled rockets, perhaps a combination of the two can be used. Ballon the craft to the upper stratosphere then propel it for the final lap.

Now here is what I was referring too. If the process above works and is significantly cheaper to use, or some other low cost process are discovered, then there will perhaps be many space bound satellites and probes. The further they are away , the longer it takes for them to communicate with earth (moon base?). I don't know how typical satellites currently relay data back to earth, I just know that there is a significant delay. I was suggesting that we use, or learn if it is possible to use all of the electromagnetic waves in space as a transmission medium to facilitate communication between remote satellites and home base.

I guess the other option would be to use several satellites as relay points. one in between each planet, or some kind of web between each planet's orbital circumference, that will amplify signal's sent from satellites at the far end of the solar system and beyond. basically " telephone lines" in space, or "cellphone towers" in space. data Storage has reached outrageous capacities, same for processing, thrown in some fancy peripherals on the satellites/relay stations, we get real time data from a project on one of Jupiter's moon. real time data from the first Pluto landing. We find out in real time WTF is going on on Saturn's north pole.

blah blah blah. just a taught.

Well, i went into a huge ass spiel about that wouldn't work, then looked it up, turns out their doing exactly what you suggested.
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/space-communication-network-speed-100122.html

 

[Zwaintsai]

Real-time communication to other planets is just not possible because of the fundamental limitation of the speed of light. Using relay stations in space could make the communication brandwidth larger (bigger pics and videos), but would not affect the signal transmission time, since it takes light (and thus radio signals and laser) about an hour to travel from saturn to earth.

I guess I was vague. Nowadays it is possible to use balloons to get into the earth's upper orbit. If that is a cheaper option than chemically propelled rockets, perhaps a combination of the two can be used. Ballon the craft to the upper stratosphere then propel it for the final lap.

This is possible. More precisely, you can't get even near the low orbit with balloons, but you can get above most of the atmosphere, which is very significant for rocket launches. Of course you would still need massive balloons for even small rockets, but I believe this concept is being worked on. As it is, getting from the ground to the earth orbit is the limiting factor in space travel.

 

[Geminii]

The limiting factor is getting up to the horizontal speed needed to achieve a non-decaying orbit, or the 11km/s needed to escape Earth's gravity well entirely (if you're launching to interplanetary destinations).

Of course, a space elevator to geosynch would eliminate most of those issues...

 

[Zwaintsai]

I'll rephrase that: "getting from the ground to a non-decaying orbit is the limiting factor..."

Getting the needed horizontal velocity is tough precisely because of the atmospheric friction. A space elevator would solve this problem, but the concept relies on yet-to-come material science breakthroughs for the cable.

Personally I would like to see an "active structure"-approach being taken to solve this problem in the short term. Something like the launch loop or an inflatable elevator tower.

 

[Adymus]

I feel like this thread is meant to seduce me with science. Especially with the way that you are referencing random scientific concepts that don't even make sense in this context (eg: "I would say its an Bose-Eisenstein condensate")

 

[menaceh2k]

I feel like this thread is meant to seduce me with science. Especially with the way that you are referencing random scientific concepts that don't even make sense in this context (eg: "I would say its an Bose-Eisenstein condensate")

ok I'll admit, that part was my fault.

When I quickly read ....

...clouds, where the temperatures are about -153 °C. Near the top, extending for some 200 km to 270km above the clouds

.... My brain jumped to -270 C instead of 270 km. We know that the condensates start to form at temps near absolute 0. And I was trying to blind you with science. mwua ha ha ha.

 

[gepcy loc]

I wonder if that's where our "hole in the Ozone" really came from..... I don't doubt global warming pleas don't think that.... But apparently holes in the ozone layer are common and have happen a lot in earths history. This coming from my Environmental Issues Teacher. I wonder if this hexagon shaped hole has anything in common with our hole located at Earth's pole.