There's a world out there with a hexagon vortex over its pole packed with hydrocarbon ice crystals. That planet is Saturn
- Reference: 1589204345
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/11/saturn_haxagon_ice/
- Source link:
The swirling six-sided wonder, which El Reg once dubbed the [2]hexacane , has perplexed scientists since its discovery in the 1980s by NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. The strange vortex has sides measuring about 14,500 kilometres long – more than the diameter of Earth – and remains intact despite winds that reach 400 kilometres per hour rippling through the ringed giant.
Now, a group of astronomers have analysed images taken from NASA’s Cassini probe to reveal the hexacane’s tower-like structure in more detail.
"The Cassini images have enabled us to discover that, just as if a sandwich had been formed, the hexagon has a multi-layered system of at least seven mists that extend from the summit of its clouds to an altitude of more than 300 km above them," said Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, a physics professor at the University of Basque Country, Spain, who led the study. "Other cold worlds, such as Saturn's satellite Titan or the dwarf planet Pluto, also have layers of hazes, but not in such numbers nor as regularly spaced out".
[3]
A picture of the different layers in Saturn's hexagonal storm
Click to enlarge ... Image Credit: GCP/UPV/EHU/NASA/ESA
Each layer is estimated to be seven to 18 kilometres thick, and is made up of tiny micrometre-sized frozen hydrocarbon crystals, including propyne, propane, and diacetylene, and possibly acetylene and benzene at the top. Each particle is estimated to have a diameter of 0.07 to 1.4 micrometres. The layers appear hazy as the concentration of particles suspended in each one varies.
The team believes the stack is formed with the help of a powerful jet of wind that blows eastward. The particles settle in a layer depending on their density and the atmospheric temperature. A similar effect occurs on Earth, we're told.
The scientists hope to study any changes in the hexacane’s structure to see how it evolves over time. “Future research should explore microphysical models, the growth, and destruction mechanisms of the observed aerosols, and look for changes in the haze properties in relation to the seasonal insolation cycle,” they concluded. ®
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[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16110-1
[2] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/06/saturn_storm/
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/05/08/hexacane.jpg
[4] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8554/forrester-build-a-digital-experience-portfolio?td=wptl1936
Re: The 7 mists are really 7 veils
Now now, let's try to keep our heads, shall we?
Isn't the universe awesome?
I like science.
Re: Isn't the universe awesome?
It certainly is. But you'd have to head out to Uranus or Neptune to find places where blocks of diamond rain several metres across plummet down through the atmosphere. Now *that* is something!
Spaced!
> not in such numbers nor as regularly spaced out
I think I don't get spaced out regularly enough.
Future research
The scientists hope to study any changes in the hexacane’s structure to see how it evolves over time.
How? Cassini was allowed to burn up in Saturn's atmosphere and it's not as if we have anything else close enough to do the observations.
BTW. acetylene is properly known as ethene.
Re: silly names
The -ene in acetylene is there to confuse people. The systematic name is ethyne. Likewise diacetylene should be called buta-1,3-diyne even though there is only one sane way to interpret butadiyne.
Re: silly names
Chemistry seems to have acquired the same taxonomic pedantry that botany did.
My theory
It's the home of giant alien bees.
Re: My theory
And watch out for the Saturnian Murder Hornets.
Re: My theory
Yep, and the murder hornets live next door* on Jupiter.
(* well, only "next door" when the planets are at their closest, of course.)
Edit: Damn, Doctor Syntax beat me to it by seconds...
Re: It's the home of giant alien bees.
Are these the 12 foot piranha bees?
The giant hexagon-shaped storm raging atop Saturn’s North Pole is made out of frozen hydrocarbon
So this finally explains Trump's Space Force. Time for "Operation Enduring Saturnian Freedom"?
The 7 mists are really 7 veils
All will be revealed if we sit back and watch the dance.