A few months ago the planet Saturn lazily tipped its lovely rings over giving us some exquisite pictures of the solar system's super star attraction. Now the northern hemisphere has emerged into spring sunlight for the first time in years and Cassini was there to snap pics of a mysterious feature called the Hexagon:
The six-sided shape remains a mystery. Scientists think the hexagon is a meandering jet stream at 77 degrees north latitude, but they don't know what controls the path the stream takes. These images also show new phenomena for scientists to decipher, such as waves that can now be seen radiating from the corners of the hexagon where the jet takes its hardest turns. These images confirm the presence of a multi-walled structure in each of the hexagon's six sides, and the structure now can be seen extending to the top of Saturn's cloud layer.
- Speaking of pretty pics, the first images from the new Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. And oh baby, they are freaking gorgeous!
- I don't know much about gun control, but I know a guy who employs science and analysis instead of general rhetorical slogans to arrive at his conclusions. Some of you may not agree with all of them, but at least he's methodical.
- Lots of rumors in the physics community about a possible discovery involving Dark Matter to be released next week. But if it fizzles out, the LHC may be making the stuff inside a month or so anyway.
- You know those dinosaurs whose descendants will soon be roasting in our holiday ovens? The very first ones may have originated in South America.