The Watchers - May 3, 2013 - by Chiffre
The international Cassini spacecraft has found a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn’s north pole, surrounded by the curious rotating hexagonal band of clouds. This storm has been churning since at least 2006.
The images Cassini took on November 27, 2012 from a distance of 418 000 – 419 000 km, provided scientists the first close-up, visible-light views of this storm. NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft did not have a clear view of this area of Saturn’s north pole when it passed by in 1981, but it did detect and observe the hexagonal band of clouds that is so wide that it could fit almost four Earths inside.
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