Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

                               2018 September 7
                                      [2]
                        Saturn's North Polar Hexagon
    Image Credit: NASA [3] , JPL-Caltech [4] , Space Science Institute [5] ,
                            Hampton University [6]

Explanation: In full view [7] , the amazing six-sided jet stream known as
Saturn's north polar hexagon is shown in this colorful Cassini image.
Extending to 70 degrees north latitude, the false-color video frame is
map-projected, based on infrared, visible, and ultraviolet image data recorded
by the Saturn-orbiting spacecraft in late 2012. First found in the outbound
Voyager [8] flyby images from the 1980s, the bizarre, long-lived feature [9]
tied to the planet's rotation is about 30,000 kilometers across. At its center
lies the ringed gas giant's hurricane-like north polar storm [10] . A new long
term study of Cassini data has found a remarkable higher-altitude vortex,
exactly matching the outlines of the north polar hexagon, that formed as
summer approached the planet's northern hemisphere. It appears to reach
hundreds of kilometers above these deeper cloud tops, into Saturn's
stratosphere [11] .

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [23] (MTU [24] ) & Jerry Bonnell [25]
                                  (UMCP [26] )
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              A service of: ASD [29]  at NASA [30]  / GSFC [31]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [32]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1809/PIA17652SaturnHexagon.jpg
  [3] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [4] https://www.jpl.nasa.gov
  [5] http://www.spacescience.org/index.php
  [6] http://science.hamptonu.edu/
  [7] https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/ details.php?id=PIA17652
  [8] ap170902.html
  [9] https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/3037/a-vexin...
  [10] ap130502.html
  [11] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/
saturns-famous-hexagon-may-tower-above-the-clouds
  [12] ap180906.html
  [13] archivepix.html
  [14] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [15] lib/aptree.html
  [16] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apo...
  [17] calendar/allyears.html
  [18] /apod.rss
  [19] lib/edlinks.html
  [20] lib/about_apod.html
  [21] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?dat...
  [22] ap180908.html
  [23] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [24] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [25] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnel...
  [26] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [27] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [28] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Priv...
  [29] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [30] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [31] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [32] http://www.mtu.edu/

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