Has the mystery of Saturn's 20,000 mile wide hexagonal 嵐／襲撃する been solved? 研究員s believe it could be controlled by a 巨大（な） jet stream

• 嵐／襲撃する on Saturn's north 政治家 激怒（する）s with 勝利，勝つd of 200mph
• Largest 勝利，勝つd system is 2,200 miles wide - this is twice the size of largest ハリケーン ever 記録，記録的な／記録するd on 惑星 Earth
• 発見 has also led 天文学者s to calculate how often Saturn 回転／交替s for the first time

By 示す Prigg

Published: 23:39 BST, 8 April 2014 | Updated: 14:57 BST, 9 April 2014

The bizarre six-味方するd 嵐／襲撃する churning Saturn’s north 政治家 has flummoxed 天文学者s ever since it was first spotted thirty years ago.

Now, 天文学者s believe they may have solved one of its biggest mysteries by working out how it operates - and discovering the rotation period of Saturn in the 過程.

The 巨大（な） 嵐／襲撃する operates rather like the jet stream on Earth they say - explaining why it never appears to move.

Scroll 負かす／撃墜する for ビデオ and 活気／アニメーションs...

The 活気／アニメーション above shows a 見解（をとる） from 直接／まっすぐに over Saturn's north 政治家, keeping up with the rotation of the 惑星 so that all the 動議 seen on the 審査する is the 動議 of the 嵐／襲撃するs inside the hexagon.

The unusual structure with a hexagonal 形態／調整 surrounding Saturn's north 政治家 was spotted on the 惑星 for the first time thirty years ago.

The hexagon is a wavy jet stream of 200 mph 勝利，勝つd and （期間が）わたるs 20,000 miles (30,000 キロメーターs) across - more than twice the 直径 of Earth.

Nothing 類似の with such a 正規の／正選手 geometry had ever been seen on any 惑星 in the Solar System.

The Planetary Sciences Group has now been able to 熟考する／考慮する and 手段 the 現象 and, 設立する its rotation period, and that of Saturn - the only 惑星 in the Solar System whose rotation time remains unknown.

研究員s 設立する seasonal variations do not 影響する／感情 the hexagon and its jet stream at all, so 結論するd both are part of an 広範囲にわたる wave, 深く，強烈に rooted in Saturn's atmosphere.

The UPV/EHU 研究員s 示唆する that the hexagon and its stream are the manifestation of a 'Rossby wave' 類似の to those that form in the 中央の-latitudes of the earth.

On our 惑星 the jet stream meanders from west to east and brings, associated with it, the system of areas of low 圧力 and anticyclones which we have been seeing 定期的に on 天気図s.

On Saturn, a hydrogen gas 惑星, ten times the size of the Earth, 冷淡な in its upper clouds, without a solid surface, and with an atmosphere as 深い as that of an ocean, 'the hexagonal wavy 動議 of the jet stream is 推定する／予想するd to be propagated vertically and 明らかにする／漏らす to us 面s of the 惑星’s hidden atmosphere,' said Agust?n S?nchez-Lavega, 長，率いる of the Planetary Sciences 研究 group.

Saturn's 嵐／襲撃する in 活動／戦闘: Scientists have 発表するd a 打開 in understand how the 嵐／襲撃する is created

'The movement of the hexagon could therefore be linked to the depths of Saturn, and the rotation period of this structure, which, as we have been able to ascertain, is 10 hours, 39 minutes and 23 seconds, could be that of the 惑星 itself,' he 追加するd.?

Saturn is the only 惑星 in the Solar System whose rotation period is not yet known.

予定 to the 攻撃する of だいたい 27? of the 惑星 Saturn, its polar atmosphere を受けるs 激しい ある時節に特有の variations with long polar nights 継続している over seven years, followed by a long period of 23 years of variable 照明.?

In 1980 and 1981 航空宇宙局's Voyager 1 and 2 space 調査（する）s passed for the first time over the 惑星 Saturn, 位置を示すd 1,500 million km from the Sun.?

の中で their 非常に／多数の 発見s they 観察するd a strange, hexagon-形態／調整d structure in the 惑星’s uppermost clouds surrounding its north 政治家.

The new 分析 許すd 天文学者s to 跡をつける the hexagonal 嵐／襲撃する for the first time to see how it 回転／交替d, and work out how it was formed

The hexagon remained 事実上 static, and images 逮捕（する）d by the Voyager 調査（する）s 設立する that the clouds were moving 速く inside the hexagon in an enclosed jet stream and were 存在 dragged by 勝利，勝つd travelling at over 400 km/h.

Thirty years later ?the 同等（の） of one Saturn year, in other words, the time the 惑星 takes to go all the way around the Sun? and over more than six 連続した years, 研究員s in the UPV/EHU’s Planetary Sciences Group, in 共同 with 天文学者s from さまざまな countries, were able to 観察する Saturn's northern polar 地域 in 詳細（に述べる） once again and 確認するd that the hexagon continued in place.

After 手段ing the positions of the hexagon vertices with 広大な／多数の／重要な precision, they 決定するd that its movement remains 極端に stable, and on the basis of the cloud movements, that the jet stream inside it remains 不変の.

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It comes just months after （映画の）フィート数 逮捕（する）d by the Cassini 宇宙船 using colour filters, showed 研究員s a 完全にする 見解（をとる） of the 最高の，を越す of Saturn for the first time.

‘A ハリケーン on Earth typically lasts a week, but this has been here for １０年間s - and who knows - maybe centuries,’ said Andrew Ingersoll, at the California 学校／設ける of 科学（工学）技術 in Pasadena.

This 活気／アニメーション above shows a 見解（をとる） from 直接／まっすぐに over the north 政治家, keeping up with the rotation of the 惑星 so that all the 動議 seen on the 審査する is the 動議 of the 嵐／襲撃するs inside the hexagon.

This older, colour 合成物 image - showing 誤った shades - has been created from raw images taken by Cassini from a distance of 379,268 miles away

天候 patterns on Earth are interrupted when they 遭遇（する） 摩擦 from land forms.

Scientists 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う the 安定 of the hexagon has something to do with the 欠如（する） of solid land forms on Saturn, which is essentially a 巨大（な） ball of gas.

Better 見解（をとる）s of the hexagon are 利用できる now because the sun began to illuminate its 内部の in late 2012.

Cassini 逮捕（する）d images of the hexagon over a 10-hour time （期間が）わたる with high-決意／決議 cameras, giving scientists a good look at the 動議 of cloud structures within.

Scientists saw the 嵐／襲撃する around the 政治家, 同様に as small vortices 回転／交替ing in the opposite direction of the hexagon.

Some of the vortices are swept along with the jet stream as if on a racetrack.

The largest of these vortices （期間が）わたるs about 2,200 miles (3,500 km), or about twice the size of the largest ハリケーン 記録，記録的な／記録するd on Earth.?

The （映画の）フィート数 逮捕（する）d by the Cassini 宇宙船 is the first of its 肉親，親類d, using colour filters, to show a 完全にする 見解（をとる） of the 最高の，を越す of Saturn

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Scientists analysed these images in 誤った colour, a （判決などを）下すing method that made it easier to distinguish differences の中で the types of 粒子s 一時停止するd in the atmosphere inside and outside the hexagon.

‘Inside the hexagon, there are より小数の large 煙霧 粒子s and a 集中 of small 煙霧 粒子s, while outside the hexagon, the opposite is true,’ said Kunio Sayanagi, a Cassini imaging team associate at Hampton University in Virginia.

‘The hexagonal jet stream is 事実上の／代理 like a 障壁, which results in something like Earth's 南極の オゾン 穴を開ける.’

The 南極の オゾン 穴を開ける forms within a 地域 enclosed by a jet stream with similarities to the hexagon.

Wintertime 条件s enable オゾン-destroying 化学製品 過程s to occur and the jet stream 妨げるs a 再供給する of オゾン from the outside.

At Saturn, large aerosols cannot cross into the hexagonal jet stream from outside and large aerosol 粒子s are created when sunlight 向こうずねs on the atmosphere.

O nly recently, with the start of Saturn's northern spring in August 2009, did sunlight begin bathing the 惑星's northern 半球.

‘As we approach Saturn's summer solstice in 2017, lighting 条件s over its north 政治家 will 改善する, and we are excited to 跡をつける the changes that occur both inside and outside the hexagon 境界,’ said Scott Edgington, Cassini 副 事業／計画（する） scientist.