Oh My God, Look at Saturn's North Pole

The image was compiled by space enthusiast Jason Major from raw images captured by Cassini this week on its latest ring-grazing orbit.

Major compiled the image from raw data that was posted to Cassini’s image archive yesterday. “If I see something interesting and it also happens to have been captures in visible-light color channels, I assemble a color version in Photoshop to see what the awesome level is,” Major told Gizmodo over Twitter DM. “That vortex pic was a 10.”

At a talk I attended at the American Geophysical Union’s annual conference in San Francisco last December, Hampton University planetary scientist John Blalock reaffirmed that while Saturn’s north polar vortex is indeed blue, the rest of the hexagon is definitely yellow these days.
“When we look from 2012 to 2016, [the] hexagon is maybe a little brighter, but the interior and especially the doughnut region [at the center] looks brighter,” Blalock said, adding later in the talk that the “brightening is consistent with an increase in the production of photochemical haze products in the upper atmosphere.”
gizmodo.com...

twitter.com...
Saturn's Pole is blue and there's nothing we can do ..dan der dan der dan dan.

Well that looks skateable. Nice find.

a reply to: gortex

So its a drain then, like a whirlpool?

a reply to: intrptr

Looks more like a Star Gate to me.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: gortex

So its a drain then, like a whirlpool?

If it is, it looks like there's a vessel circling it, so not only is there water on Saturn, there's Nautical life...

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: intrptr

Looks more like a Star Gate to me.

Okay, Hollywood aside and all...

By "a drain", I mean the usual pics we have of Saturns pole have it appearing like a hexagon, right?

g oogled

Mostly anyway. This is the first time it appears as a cyclone, like absorbing material. I'm imagining a giant vortex were the material at the poles is absorbed into the interior of the planet like 'down a huge drain'.

Interesting to speculate... do black holes feed the same way, producing jets from their poles because thats where the material they ingest goes in, by the pole?

What if we are witnessing the birth of a habitable planet? Like in Star Trek?

Like that's a tiny ocean forming. As the planet spins on its axis, the ocean expands and creates more precipitation, rains, expands...? It looks like clouds on the rim of the ocean.

What if some alien race just planted the Genesis Device?

I don't know, just a thought.

a reply to: gortex

Saturn is such a beauty. It seems that the molecules which before made the entire region around the hexagon blu-ish are now concentrating in the middle leaving the outside more yellow.
Which makes sense I guess it's heating up towards the solstice May '17? We are probably looking at chemistry at work here? Material separation?
Am I wrong? Why and how would haze make sense?

a reply to: galaga

Thats no ocean. Near minus 300 degrees at the pole and would be frozen. Would also sink right through the planet anyways if it formed somehow.

a reply to: intrptr

It probably still looks like a hexagon this picture is closer in I believe , the older picture shows the scale.


Saturns atmosphere is in constant motion so yes it is a vortex and I guess it is recycling Saturn's atmosphere , if only we could peer bellow the clouds and see what lies below.

I all ways thought of the gas giants as stars that almost made it, but not quite enough mass. It would be interesting to see a picture ou the North Pole of the sun from that altitude for comparison.

If we were to drop a nuc in there, do you think we could light off a star.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: intrptr

It probably still looks like a hexagon this picture is closer in I believe , the older picture shows the scale.

Saturn's atmosphere is in constant motion so yes it is a vortex and I guess it is recycling Saturn's atmosphere , if only we could peer bellow the clouds and see what lies below.

Using a simple sink drain as an analogy we can extrapolate. A whirlpool is a whirlpool. This must mean larger gravitational bodies behave the same way...

I'm going so far to stay that black hole jets are where matter is inducted into the black hole, the energetic jets the signature of that crossing the boundary.

a reply to: Nickn3

Not enough pressure for fusion

No oxygen to burn the hydrogen

Nope we cant light it up.

originally posted by: gortex
raw images captured by Cassini this week on its latest ring-grazing orbit.

Ewww! that sounds painful. Anyway, it never struck me before that the vortex is acting something like a whirlpool and has a lower basin in the blue areas, than in the yellow portions. You can see a rim reflecting sunlight off the upper portion of the blue area....kinda weird alright, stargate sounds about right.

Notice the 'No Skateboarding' signs.....

originally posted by: Golantrevize
a reply to: Nickn3

Not enough pressure for fusion

No oxygen to burn the hydrogen

Nope we cant light it up.

yes you would need about 80 more jupiter masses to sustain fusion. So saying it was a failed star isnt accurate at all. Even if we combined all the gas giants in our solar system still wouldnt be enough for a second star.

a reply to: gortex

I'll never be able to hear that song again without going "dan der dan der dan dan!"

Cool pic though!

a reply to: dragonridr

I know you mean well, but I can guarantee you cannot prove that.

It is really cool and fun though that people believe they know the makeup of planets and stars when they cannot even figure out the one they live on.

a reply to: gortex

Kronos.....................................


Keeps an eye on us all


while making maddening music.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: gortex

So its a drain then, like a whirlpool?

I see floaters.