A hexagonal feature around Saturn's north pole

Abstract Most analyses of the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn have concentrated on the equatorial and midlatitude regions. These have the best coverage because of the near-equatorial trajectories of the Voyager spacecraft. We used map-projected images to examine the polar regions of Saturn, which show an unexpected hexagonal feature. Measurements from a sequence of images show that the flow pattern echoes this shape. The striated clouds that form the pattern are moving at over 100 m/sec. However the hexagonal shape itself rotates at the radio rotation period, suggesting possibly some connection between the feature and the observed kilometric radio emissions.

[1]  V. Suomi,et al.  Some dynamical properties of vortex streets in Saturn's atmosphere from analyses of Voyager images , 1983 .

[2]  M. L. Kaiser,et al.  Voyager measurement of the rotation period of Saturn's magnetic field , 1981 .

[3]  J. L. Mitchell,et al.  A New Look at the Saturn System: The Voyager 2 Images , 1982, Science.

[4]  M. L. Kaiser,et al.  Saturnian kilometric radiation: Source locations , 1982 .

[5]  D. Godfrey,et al.  The Saturnian ribbon feature—A baroclinically unstable model , 1986 .

[6]  T. Carr,et al.  Pre-encounter distributions of Saturn's low frequency radio emission , 1981, Nature.

[7]  W. Hubbard,et al.  Interior structure of Saturn , 1984 .

[8]  D. Hunten,et al.  Extreme Ultraviolet Observations from the Voyager 2 Encounter with Saturn , 1982, Science.

[9]  Ching I. Meng,et al.  Ultraviolet imaging from space of the aurora under full sunlight , 1984 .

[10]  Thomas M. Whittaker,et al.  Automated Streamline Analysis , 1977 .

[11]  G. Hunt,et al.  Dynamical features in the northern hemisphere of Saturn from Voyager 1 images , 1982, Nature.

[12]  A. Ingersoll,et al.  Structure and dynamics of Saturn's atmosphere , 1984 .

[13]  E. Miner,et al.  Voyager 2 Encounter with the Saturnian System , 1982, Science.

[14]  W. Kurth,et al.  Saturn as a radio source , 1983 .

[15]  F. Genova,et al.  Source localization of Saturn kilometric radio emission , 1983 .

[16]  T V Johnson,et al.  Encounter with saturn: voyager 1 imaging science results. , 1981, Science.

[17]  John D. Craven,et al.  Polar views of the Earth's aurora with Dynamics Explorer , 1982 .

[18]  C. Sagan,et al.  Voyager imaging experiment , 1977 .

[19]  M. L. Kaiser,et al.  Saturnian kilometric radiation: statistical properties and beam geometry , 1981, Nature.

[20]  H. Revercomb,et al.  Voyager 2 observations of Saturn's northern mid-latitude cloud features - Morphology, motions, and evolution , 1983 .