THE SATURN HEXAGON
It looks a bit like a strange cinnamon roll.
From NASA (full web page article here):
"A bizarre six-sided feature encircling the north pole of Saturn near 78 degrees north latitude has been spied by the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on NASA's Cassini spacecraft. This image is one of the first clear images ever taken of the north polar region as seen from a unique polar perspective.
Originally discovered and last observed by a spacecraft during NASA's Voyager flybys of the early 1980's, the new views of this polar hexagon taken in late 2006 prove that this is an unusually long-lived feature on Saturn.
This image is the first to capture the entire feature and north polar region in one shot, and is also the first polar view using Saturn's thermal glow at 5 microns (seven times the wavelength visible to the human eye) as the light source.
...This image was acquired on Oct. 29, 2006, from an average distance of 902,000 million kilometers (560,400 miles) above the cloud tops of Saturn. ."
The Saturn System
Click to View at Saturn System photo 1900 pixels
More about the Cassini mission is at NASA here.
I'm looking forward to the Cassini flyby of Saturn's biggest moon Titan on April 10, 2007.
Related:
Large Photo: Enceladus Moon of Saturn
Large Photo: The Saturn System
Original page Wednesday, March 28, 2007 | Updated Feb 2012