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New images captured by a NASA spacecraft show a unique six-sided jet stream, known as the
hexagon, around Saturn's north pole. The Cassini spacecraft took the picture of the hexagon
over a ten-hour period using HD cameras, and colour filters. This gave scientists a good
look at the motion of cloud structures within the planet.
NASA showed the images in a high-resolution movie on Wednesday. Spanning about 20,000
miles across, the hexagon is a wavy jet stream of winds with a rotating storm at the centre.
Scientists from the Cassini imaging team said the storm around the pole is about twice the
size of the largest hurricane recorded on Earth and there is no weather like it anywhere
else in the solar system. Researchers suspect the stability of the hexagon has something
to do with the lack of solid landforms on Saturn, which is essentially a giant ball
of gas. Using a black-and-white version of the imaging and movies, they were able to
examine the storms inside the jet stream. Better views of the hexagon are available
now because the Sun began to illuminate its interior in late 2012 and even better lighting
conditions are expected during Saturn's summer solstice in 2017.