Abstract

Most analyses of the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn have concentrated on the equatorial and midlatitude regions. These have the best coverage because of the near-equatorial trajectories of the Voyager spacecraft. We used map-projected images to examine the polar regions of Saturn, which show an unexpected hexagonal feature. Measurements from a sequence of images show that the flow pattern echoes this shape. The striated clouds that form the pattern are moving at over 100 m/sec. However the hexagonal shape itself rotates at the radio rotation period, suggesting possibly some connection between the feature and the observed kilometric radio emissions.