Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2023 June 18
    [2]Saturn's north pole is shown with vibrant false colors. The outer
    boundary appears as a rounded hexagon. Please see the explanation for
                         more detailed information.

                          Saturn's Northern Hexagon
    Image Credit & Copyright: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]JPL, [6]SSI, [7]Cassini
                                Imaging Team

   Explanation: Why would clouds form a hexagon on Saturn? Nobody is sure.
   Originally discovered during the [8]Voyager flybys of Saturn in the
   1980s, nobody has ever seen anything like it anywhere else in the
   [9]Solar System. Acquiring its first sunlit views of far northern
   [10]Saturn in late 2012, the Cassini spacecraft's wide-angle camera
   recorded this [11]stunning, false-color image of the ringed planet's
   north pole. The composite of near-infrared image data results in red
   hues for low clouds and green for high ones, giving the [12]Saturnian
   cloudscape a vivid appearance. This and similar images show the
   stability of the [13]hexagon even 20+ years after Voyager. [14]Movies
   of Saturn's North Pole show the cloud structure maintaining its
   [15]hexagonal structure while rotating. Unlike individual clouds
   appearing like a [16]hexagon on Earth, the Saturn [17]cloud pattern
   appears to have [18]six well defined sides of nearly equal length. Four
   [19]Earths could fit inside the [20]hexagon. Beyond the cloud tops at
   the upper right, arcs of the planet's [21]eye-catching [22]rings are
   tinted bright blue.

                      Tomorrow's picture: space tornado
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [34]Robert Nemiroff ([35]MTU) & [36]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([37]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [38]Specific rights apply.
              [39]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [40]ASD at [41]NASA / [42]GSFC,
                         [43]NASA Science Activation
                           & [44]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2306/NorthSaturn_Cassini_960.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. https://www.esa.int/
   5. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
   6. https://www.spacescience.org/
   7. https://ciclops.org/
   8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1
   9. https://space.jpl.nasa.gov/
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121204.html
  11. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA14946
  12. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/overview/
  13. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Hexagon.html
  14. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09187
  15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn's_hexagon
  16. https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/images/59758/hexagonal-cloud-cells-in-south-atlantic-ocean
  17. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-20070327.html
  18. https://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2010/2471.html
  19. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0610/earthlights02_dmsp_big.jpg
  20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexagon
  21. https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1872746/cat-looking-shocked.jpg
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131021.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230617.html
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  32. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230618
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230619.html
  34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  37. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  39. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  40. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  41. https://www.nasa.gov/
  42. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  43. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  44. http://www.mtu.edu/