Planets and Moons  ID: 11468

A Mighty Wind

Story by Julia Calderone Released on March 25, 2014
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Explore spectacular views of Saturn's polar jet stream.
A peculiarly shaped wind pattern has been whipping around Saturn's north polar region for decades. First discovered by NASA’s Voyager mission in the early 1980s, the planet’s six-sided jet stream, known as the hexagon, is somewhat of an oddity. Diverse bands of winds and rotating vortices circle the eye of a hurricane-like storm centered on the north pole. Moving at more than 200 mph, the jet stream is several thousand miles long and could encompass Earth twice. In 2012, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured the most detailed and comprehensive images of the speedy system yet. Watch the video to see Saturn's jet stream in motion.
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The Imaging Science Subsystem cameras aboard NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured these images of Saturn’s polar jet stream.
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The eye of the storm spinning above Saturn's north pole is 1,250 miles wide.
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The hexagon measures about 15,000 miles across, or more than five times the width of Antarctica.
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The polar jet stream rotates in the same direction that Saturn travels around the sun.

Story Credits

Lead Writer:
Julia Calderone (USRA)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Video courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Hampton University
Images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11468

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons