As Byeol-maru approached Saturn, Hyeongseop held his breath. The massive ring made of countless ice particles, wrapping completely around the planet, was far more overwhelming than anything he’d imagined from just hearing about it.
“Whoa… it’s really sparkling.”
“Right, those are the same ice and rock particles we talked about before. They catch the sunlight and shine like that.”
Byeol-maru drifted slowly through the rings toward Saturn’s surface. Hyeongseop looked toward the north pole and noticed something strange.
“Byeoli, the clouds near the north pole look weird. They’re not round, they’re… angular.”
Byeoli zoomed in on that area. Remarkably, the clouds were swirling in a perfect hexagon shape.
“Oh, good eye. That’s a truly strange phenomenon. There’s a massive hexagon-shaped jet stream at Saturn’s north pole. Scientists call it ‘Saturn’s hexagon.’”
“A hexagon? How can clouds form straight angles like that?”
“Honestly, why it keeps such a precise hexagon shape still isn’t fully understood. Some research suggests that when atmospheric wind flows at a certain speed, it can naturally create angular shapes like that, but the exact mechanism is still being studied.”
Hyeongseop stared at the hexagonal clouds for a long while.
“How big is it?”
“Just one side of that hexagon is longer than Earth’s diameter. So it’s big enough to fit several Earths side by side inside it.”
“So does it just stay that shape forever?”
“Yes, scientists have observed it for decades, and the shape barely changes, it just keeps holding its hexagon form. For something made of clouds, which constantly move and shift, that’s really unusual.”
“Does Jupiter have anything like this?”
“No, Jupiter’s poles have several small swirls clustered together like flower petals. But a clean hexagon like Saturn’s doesn’t exist anywhere else in the solar system. So far, this is the only one ever found.”
“So it’s truly one of a kind.”
“Exactly. No matter how much of the solar system you explore, you never see the exact same sight twice. Every planet always has at least one thing that’s completely its own.”
Byeol-maru left the rings and the hexagonal storm behind, slowly pulling away. Looking out the window at Saturn growing smaller, Hyeongseop found himself thinking that nature probably still holds far more mysteries left unexplained than things we’ve already figured out.
“Byeoli, where to next?”
“A rather unusual planet this time. One that orbits the Sun almost lying on its side.”
“Lying on its side? What does that even mean?”
Instead of answering, Byeoli just smiled slightly and picked up Byeol-maru’s speed. Hyeongseop’s eyes lit up, already imagining what it might look like.
(To be continued — Episode 6: Uranus, the Planet That Lies on Its Side)
답글 남기기