Bizarre Hexagon Spotted on Saturn

One of the most bizarre weather patterns known has been photographed at Saturn, where astronomers have spotted a huge, six-sided feature circling the north pole.Rather than the normally sinuous cloud structures seen on all planets that have atmospheres, this thing is a hexagon.



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Mars' South Pole Ice Deep and Wide

Pasadena, Calif. -- New measurements of Mars' south polar region indicate extensive frozen water. The polar region contains enough frozen water to cover the whole planet in a liquid layer approximately 11 meters (36 feet) deep. A joint NASA-Italian Space Agency instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft provided these data.



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SOHO Planets and Comets

Mars Global Surveyor Still Silent

from PhysOrg.com

Two more attempts to regain contact with NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft failed this week.

The 10-year-old probe last had radio communication with Earth on Nov. 2, and NASA said earlier this week that the spacecraft's mission to map the surface of the Red Planet was likely at an end.

But efforts to find out if the orbiting spacecraft was still working continued, including transmitting commands for Mars Global Surveyor to send signals to the NASA rover Opportunity operating on the surface of Mars.[...]

New attempts to crack Saturn's 'walnut' moon

The mysterious equatorial ridge on Saturn's moon Iapetus is either a fossil ring system that fell to the surface, or a pile up of crustal rocks formed as the satellite changed its shape. These are the latest theories from planetary scientists.

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