A giant hexagon-shaped storm sits over Saturn's north pole. Scientists first got a few looks at the bizarre formation during the Voyager flyby of the planet, and confirmed its existence with the arrival of Cassini to Saturn's system.
And yes, Virginia, it is a hexagon-- straight sides, clearly defined corners, the whole bit. It's also huge--7,500 miles to a side, it extends about 60 miles deep into Saturn's atmosphere. Since it was imaged by Voyager, the assumption is the storm has been raging for at least that long, and the possibility exists that it's been around for much longer.
Scientists have no idea how the shape came about, or how the shape is maintained. They hope to gather more data as the mission of Cassini continues. So far, the hexagonal storm on Saturn is unique in our universe.
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