[sac-forum] And Saturn's Hexagon Shall Be Called . . .
- From: "Dan Gruber" <dgruber@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 17:05:39 -0700
I thought everybody might find this amusing. Maybe we should have our
own contest? (If not for this feature, maybe for something equally
inscrutable....)
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April 5, 2007, 11:42 am
And Saturn?s Hexagon Shall Be Called . . .
<http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/and-saturns-hexagon-shal
l-be-called/>
By John <http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/author/jtierney/> Tierney
Tags: geometry <http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/geometry> ,
Saturn <http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/saturn>
Hexagon in a bucket created by T. Jansson
<http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/04/05/science/teirney.hex1.jpg
>
Pentagon in a bucket created by T. Jansson
<http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/04/05/science/tierney.hex2.jpg
> A pentagon-shaped hole appears in the center of the water swirling
against the edge of a rotating bucket. In top picture, a hexagon appears
when the bucket is spun at a higher speed. (Photos: Kåre H.Jensen,
Martin P. Haspang and Thomas R.N. Jansson)
The judging committee, after reviewing your more than 200 nominations,
has finally settled on a name and a myth for the mysterious hexagon
<http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/the-your-name-here-hexag
on-of-saturn/> on Saturn. But first, let?s take a look at a hexagon in
Denmark pointed out to me by several readers.
It was created by rapidly rotating a bucket of water ? hardly an exact a
model of Saturn?s atmosphere, but it might help in understanding those
clouds swirling around the hexagon at its north pole. The
hexagon-in-a-bucket was reported
<http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PR
LTAO000096000017174502000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes> in Physical Review
Letters last year by a team led by Thomas R. N. Jansson, a geophysics
student at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.
The researchers found that as the bucket spun faster, a ?spectacular
instability? caused holes shaped like polygons to appear in the center
of the whirlpooling water. (You can see an array of the polygons here
<http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PR
LTAO000096000017174502000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes> .) When I asked Mr.
Jansson if the hexagon created in a bucket is a distant cousin of the
one in Saturn?s atmosphere, he replied:
?They clearly look alike, but without knowing the dynamics of the winds
on Saturn in more detail, it is hard to tell whether or not the
phenomena really are similar. I could, however, imagine that there is a
shear layer between the different parts of the rotating gas, maybe due
to heating of the gas above the pole, and if yet another wind system
existed beneath this polygon rotating at higher speeds, then the setup
would be somewhat comparable to ours.?
Whatever?s creating the hexagon on Saturn, it inspired an impressive
burst of creativity in the nominations for a name. The judges seriously
considered the Gods? Conference Table ? one side for each of the first
six planets, as suggested
<http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/saturns-hexagon-the-plot
-thickens/#comment-3287> by John the One. They liked the hex nut ideas
and especially Boltealis, a blending of bolt and borealis proposed
<http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/the-your-name-here-hexag
on-of-saturn/#comment-2792> by Jeremy H. Greenberg.
The judges very nearly went for the Jesus Nut, which was suggested by
the novelist Christopher Buckley. That?s what soldiers call the
hexagonal nut on top of a helicopter that that keeps the main rotor from
falling off. According to Wikipedia, the term
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_nut> was coined by soldiers in the
Vietnam War who figured that if the nut came loose, you would spend your
final seconds praying to the Lord.
But the TierneyLab Ethics Review Board nixed that designation because of
concerns it could look like cronyistic payback to Buckley for giving me
a cameo role in his new novel, ?Boomsday.? (I appear as the moderator of
a debate who bites his lip to stop from laughing at the funniest line
ever uttered by a presidential candidate. Unfortunately, it?s
unprintable in a family newspaper.) The Ethics Review Board also nixed
my son?s nomination of Saturn?s Donut, and my wife?s suggestion that
Saturn was actually a Southern belle wearing a hexagonal hat to go with
her hoop skirt (the rings).
Saturn's hexagon at the north pole
<http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/04/02/science/saturn.190.jpg>
The mysterious red hexagon is encircled by a blue ring that is Saturn?s
version of the aurora borealis: an aurora at its north pole produced by
charged particles smashing into Saturn?s atmosphere along magnetic-field
lines. Or at least that?s the non-mythological explanation. (Photo:
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
In the end, the judges settled on William S. Anderson?s nomination
<http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/the-your-name-here-hexag
on-of-saturn/#comment-2845> of Omphalos, the stone that Saturn?s wife
wrapped in swaddling clothes and gave to him. He swallowed it thinking
it was his infant son, Jupiter, whom he wanted to wolf down just as he
had swallowed his previous children. This was not what we think of as
model parenting, but his family had a history of strained father-son
relations. Saturn had overthrown his father, Uranus, by castrating him,
and he didn?t want to give his children the same opportunity.
After reviewing this mythology and studying the red hexagon in NASA?s
images, the judges noted that it fits right inside a blue ring that must
be Saturn?s mouth ? one more reason to go with Mr. Anderson?s proposal.
(NASA prefers to think of the blue ring as Saturn?s aurora, but
mythology has never been its strong suit.) The pronunciation, by the
way, is roughly OM-fuh-las, but in casual conversation you could simply
go with Saturn?s Stone.
If there are any classical scholars who see a problem with the Omphalos
name, you?re welcome to post comments. The Lab?s Nomenclature
Adjudication Panel will consider any substantive objections. But unless
something turns up, we will keep our promise to honor the contest winner
by henceforth referring to this hexagonal feature by its new name: the
Anderson Omphalos. Behold Saturn and tremble at his appetite.
*
E-mail
<javascript:document.getElementById('emailThis_59').submit();> This
12 comments so far...
*
1.
April 6th,
2007
1:31 pm <>
Great new name, as long as we don?t call it Anderson?s Omphalos,
since the Greek term also means ?belly-button?, and some of us are too
young to go through a midriff crisis. Still, the name gives astronomers
everywhere the chance to say that they too are engaged in navel-gazing.
? Posted by Chris Brunelle
*
2.
April 6th,
2007
1:51 pm <>
Omphalos is a suitable name because it also means ?navel.? The
peoples of the ancient Meditteranean made a habit of marking various
spots as the centers of the world using stones. As the world can have
only one belly-button, and as only the powerful can arbitrarily declare
where it is, a change in location signalled a significant change in
regional power and history. Two famous locations include the Omphalos at
Delphi, which is also related to the story of Zeus, and the Omphalos at
Jerusalem?s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which marked the center of the
late-Roman and early-Christian worlds.
Can you please tell us more about Saturn?s Omphalos? What
happens there? Why is it significant for our understanding of the
planet? How big is it?
? Posted by Michael Cole
*
3.
April 6th,
2007
2:01 pm <>
Omphalos is actually Greek for bellybutton.
? Posted by mapgirl
*
4.
April 6th,
2007
2:11 pm <>
Isn?t this the Greek word for navel? This would have Saturn
staring into the starry void while reclining on the ecliptic. It?s
always best when a mythic reference can lead in numerous directions.
Well done.
? Posted by Tom Makeig
*
5.
April 6th,
2007
2:16 pm <>
HexRing
? Posted by Carol Kucera
*
6.
April 6th,
2007
2:57 pm <>
Tierny writes: ?I appear as the moderator of a debate who bites
his lip to stop from laughing at the funniest line ever uttered by a
presidential candidate. Unfortunately, it?s unprintable in a family
newspaper.?
Since when did the new york times become concerned about unprintable
subject matter? You gave up your claim to being a family newspaper ever
since you published the ?net version and perhaps even long before that.
? Posted by todd
*
7.
April 6th,
2007
3:09 pm <>
Saturn?s belly button. I like it. Bravo, Mr. Anderson.
? Posted by Matt Sinclair
*
8.
April 6th,
2007
3:45 pm <>
My only question would be concerning whether Saturn?s Omphalos
is an inner or an outer.
? Posted by Arthur Diamond
*
9.
April 6th,
2007
3:51 pm <>
It?s a good name. But I still think it?s an optical distortion
caused by a stargate? if anything, that water-in-the-bucket experiment
supports the idea. And Arthur C. Clarke certainly knew there was a
stargate in Saturn.
? Posted by chris
*
10.
April 6th,
2007
3:53 pm <>
Maybe Saturn has a bloated military-industrial complex, and a
Pentagon was simply too small to encompass its needs
? Posted by Orin Hollander
*
11.
April 6th,
2007
4:13 pm <>
I don?t like it.
The phenomenon looks nothing like either a navel or a babyish
stone. The name Omphalos also does nothing to address its hexagonal
shape, which is what makes it unique in our solar system.
I like Jesus Nut much better. It has an equally interesting
background story ? and one that suggests the proper hexagonal shape and
upright orientation. (Also, it has a double meaning: Christian fanatic.
That?s totally unrelated, but I?m a sucker for anything with a double
meaning.) Chalk up another one for Christopher Buckley. Nuts to
cronyism.
? Posted by Tiernan Erickson
*
12.
April 6th,
2007
4:25 pm <>
BOOoorring!
? Posted by Twin Falls Bob
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Recent Posts
* April 5
12 comments
And
<http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/and-saturns-hexagon-shal
l-be-called/> Saturn?s Hexagon Shall Be Called . . .
A pentagon-shaped hole appears in the center of the water
swirling against the edge of a rotating bucket. In top picture, a
hexagon appears when the bucket is spun at a higher speed. (Photos: Kåre
H.Jensen, Martin P. Haspang and Thomas R.N. Jansson)
The judging committee, after reviewing your more than 200 nominations,
has finally [?]
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Now that the Supreme Court has ordered the Environmental
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<http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/saturns-hexagon-the-plot
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We?re still not quite finished testing your many theories for
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Josh pointed to a report in Nature about the creation of hexagons and
other geometric figures in a bucket [?]
* March 28
198 comments
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<http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/the-your-name-here-hexag
on-of-saturn/> [Your Name Here] Hexagon of Saturn
The mysterious hexagon in the atmosphere above Saturn?s north
pole appears in an infrared image of the planet?s thermal glow. The
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* March 27
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<http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/opening-salvos-at-the-hu
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But this is already looking like a tougher case for the prosecution.
Jonathan Fahey, one of the prosecutors in federal court in [?]
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