Editing 2513: Saturn Hexagon

{{comic
| number    = 2513
| date      = September 8, 2021
| title     = Saturn Hexagon
| image     = saturn_hexagon.png
| titletext = Sorry, in SI units that's "there's a big football in there."
}}

==Explanation==
[[File:PIA20513_-_Basking_in_Light.jpg|thumb|200px|Saturn's hexagon]]

{{w|Saturn's hexagon}} is a cloud formation on Saturn centered on its north pole. Similar to Jupiter's {{w|Great Red Spot}}, it is a persistent feature observed by multiple space probes. The cause was not known until recently, when data from the 2006-2009 {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} probe could be analyzed in depth. This finding was widely publicized in popular science media (see for example [https://www.sciencealert.com/astronomers-think-they-figured-out-how-saturn-s-giant-hexagonal-storm-could-have-formed this]) and is related to how currents flow deep within Saturn's atmosphere.

[[Cueball]] proposes an alternate explanation: it is the top of a {{w|Ball_(association_football)|soccer ball}}. Soccer balls are made in the shape of a {{w|truncated icosahedron}}, where faces alternate between regular hexagons and regular pentagons to achieve a more uniform roll. This design was introduced in 1968 as the {{w|Adidas Telstar}}, and is now considered the "traditional" soccer ball. The article refers to this as the "BSBIT model", a technical-sounding acronym from "Big Soccer Ball In There".

"Soccer" is the name used in the United States for {{w|association football}}, a game called simply "football" in much of the world. Similarly, the US makes wide use of {{w|United States customary units|customary units of measurement}} (inches, feet, miles, pounds, etc.) where much of the world uses the SI or metric system (centimetres, metres, kilometres, kilograms, etc.), so "football" is jokingly referred to in the title text as the SI name for "soccer". Just as the American customary units derive from earlier {{w|English units}} (that also developed into the British {{w|Imperial units}}), the term "soccer" originated in the UK, originally to {{w|Names_for_association_football#Background|distinguish it}} from rugby football (sometimes "rugger"), before soccer became the most common form of football there. A possible interpretation of this is that as much of the Web panders to a significantly US-based audience, many sites use only American customary measurements and omit metric equivalents, which might annoy non-US users; Randall parodies this by sarcastically and non-seriously apologizing.

This comic may also reference something often quoted to students decades ago that Saturn [https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/in-depth/#:~:text=Structure-,Structure,by%20intense%20pressure%20and%20heat. would float] if there were a large enough pool of water to hold it, often having been stated as "Saturn is a giant beach ball".  This refers to the property that Saturn is the planet with the {{w|Saturn#Physical_characteristics|lowest average density}}.  This, of course, is a lot more [https://www.wired.com/2013/07/no-saturn-wouldnt-float-in-water/ complicated] in reality.

Incidentally, the presentation of the truncated-icosahedral 'football', pressing one clear polygonal face up along the upper limit of the planetary sphere, has much in common with the (non-truncated) icosahedron that floats within a {{w|Magic 8-Ball}}, arranged to display just one random triangular face whenever its viewing window is upwards. This may be coincidence. Randall has previously parodied the magic 8-ball in [[1525: Emojic 8 Ball]].

==Transcript==

[Cueball is presenting in front of a poster, which he is pointing at with a stick.]

Cueball: We're proud to announce that our team has finally determined the origin and nature of Saturn's polar hexagon.

[The poster represents Saturn and its ring-system. There is a massive football/soccer ball drawn as if inside the semi-transparent planet, taking up slightly less than half of it by volume. 
One of the ball's hexagons coincides with Saturn's polar hexagon, and is labelled "Hexagon". Other labels are illegible.<br/>
The poster's title is "There's a Big Soccer Ball In There". The rest of the poster is illegible, except for a section heading that reads "BSBIT Model".]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Astronomy]]
[[Category:Soccer]]