Cassini Probes the Hexagon On Saturn 280
Riding with Robots sends us to a NASA page with photos of a little-understood hexagonal shape surrounding Saturn's north pole. "This is a very strange feature, lying in a precise geometric fashion with six nearly equally straight sides," said Kevin Baines, member of Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team. "We've never seen anything like this on any other planet." This structure was discovered by the Voyager probes over 20 years ago (here's an 18-year-old note on the mystery). The fact that it's still in place means it is stable and long-lived. Scientists have no idea what causes the hexagon. It's nearly big enough to fit four earths inside — comfortably larger than Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The article has an animation of clouds moving within the hexagon captured in infrared light.
North Pole? (Score:5, Funny)
it must be (Score:5, Funny)
intelligent life (Score:5, Funny)
It's obvious to me, as a trained ufologist, that this is not a natural phenomenon. This hexagonal structure was BUILT by intelligent life.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
old hardware? (Score:5, Funny)
Thwarting the Terrorists (Score:2, Funny)
Nothing to see here... (Score:3, Funny)
Mystery Solved (Score:5, Funny)
A truly bizzare hexagon (Score:5, Funny)
Last time I checked, all hexagons had six sides...
Re:intelligent life (Score:2, Funny)
Re:it must be bees (Score:5, Funny)
Fortress of Solitude (Score:3, Funny)
Re:North Pole? (Score:1, Funny)
I see pattern (Score:5, Funny)
Saturn is the sixth planet out.
A hexagon has six sides.
There is a second hexagon inside the first. Another six sides.
6-6-6
Hmmm, that number kind of has a ring to it. And so does Saturn.
Coincidence?
Obviously... (Score:5, Funny)
Gah, they found it! (Score:4, Funny)
I should have got the next model down, then I could have pretended it was just another moon, but nooooooo, I had to get the hexagonal UltraSUV because it was "different" and had more legroom.
Hm, wonder if that guy who owns Mimas would do a swap. His camo paint job looks *so* much less convincing after those stupid films.
Re:intelligent life (Score:5, Funny)
What are we to make of Lando's cloud city?
THINK ABOUT LANDO FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE YOU RACIST
Re:intelligent life (Score:3, Funny)
But let's not waste any opportunity in jumping to conclusions, because, as everyone knows, there are no [scottcamazine.com] straight [aliki.co.uk] lines [juniata.edu] in [howstuffworks.com] nature [olegvolk.net].
Why is it all the UFO freaks have no grasp of science? Why does that follow?
Re:it must be bees (Score:4, Funny)
Well, everybody knows that: honeycomb big, yeah, yeah, yeah. If only these scientists had just taken the time to watch Saturday morning cartoons, or Futurama.
Goatse? (Score:4, Funny)
Looks more like Saturn is giving us a Goatse, spreading wide for the camera.
Easy enough, Jupiter is Jewish (Score:4, Funny)
Sign of intelligent life (Score:4, Funny)
Or, its warning sign placed there by the Vogon Constructor Fleet
Re:I see pattern (Score:3, Funny)
It's actually just the top of the bolt that's holding the planet together. It keeps spinning because the other end is stripped.
Re:A truly bizzare hexagon (Score:5, Funny)
I once divided by zero and nothing happened, so now I'll try to create a seven-sided h
Re:it must be bees (Score:3, Funny)
Re:A truly bizzare hexagon (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I see pattern (Score:5, Funny)
Re:North Pole? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:intelligent life (Score:3, Funny)
It's obvious to me, as a trained slashdotter, many people are unable to understand sarcasm.
Re:Easy enough, Jupiter is Jewish (Score:1, Funny)
Re:North Pole? (Score:5, Funny)
Meme 023AD01: "I, for one, welcome our new (variable1)-bearing (variable2) overlords."
Meme 0567GS02: "In Russia, (variable1) (variable2)'s YOU!"
Meme 2983KL99: "Step 1. (variable1) Step 2. (variable2) Step 3. PROFIT!"
In the future, please use the simple and short MemeCode. This will allow us to operate more efficiently, increase profits and shareholder value, and also confuse the hell out of anyone new to Slashdot. Thank you.
Darl McBride, CEO
Mumble mumble Hexagon mumble mumble Aliens! mumble mumble Jack Thompson
Re:North Pole? (Score:3, Funny)
I don't care if it was a joke; I'm using this idea everywhere.
Re:intelligent life (Score:3, Funny)
Hummm... can "intelligent" life change the structure of an atmosphere? Doesn't sound so smart to me....
--
Go solar: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-user
AT field ? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Goatse? (Score:2, Funny)
It's a circle (Score:1, Funny)
Re:North Pole? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:North Pole? (Score:5, Funny)
A guy gets invited to a hunting lodge one evening, and on his arrival, everyone is having a few beers and taking it easy. Suddenly, one of them stands up and says, "27". Everyone has a bit of a laugh and they clap appreciatively. Another person stands and says, "48." Again this is met with laughter and a few guffaws.
The visitor is perplexed and asks his host, "What's going on here?"
His host replies, "Oh, these guys have known each other for years, so long now that they know all their jokes. So, to save time , they numbered them."
"Oh!" the visitor says.
"Did you want to have a try at it?" says the host.
With much trepidation, the visitor stands up and says, "96."
Well, it brought the house down. Grizzled old men are rolling about, clutching their sides laughing, gasping for breath. This goes on for nearly ten minutes.
"Wow! They really liked that one!" says the visitor.
"I'll say!" said the host, wiping a tear from his eye, "They hadn't heard that one before!"