A Son of the Rock

Yes, Astronomy Picture of the Day again (22/1/12.)

This is really weird. It’s a storm on Saturn, located at its north pole. The source as usual is the Cassini probe.

Quite how a storm can result in a hexagonal pattern is puzzling. More puzzling still is how it has lasted – since it was discovered in the 1980s flypasts.

This is the same storm in infrared (from APOD of 3/4/07.)

This links to a photo of hexagonal cloud forms on Earth, the nearest similar meteorological phenomenon.

Here’s a time-lapse film of Saturn’s north polar storm. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it.