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Saturn's mysterious hexagon-shaped storm has internet conspiracy theories swirling

32:53
This April 26, 2017 photo made available by NASA shows turbulent clouds at Saturn's north pole, as seen from the Cassini spacecraft. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via AP)
This April 26, 2017 photo made available by NASA shows turbulent clouds at Saturn's north pole, as seen from the Cassini spacecraft. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via AP)

Endless Thread goes to space! First, host Ben Brock Johnson goes deep on radio signals of unknown origin, with an assist from real-life radio astronomer and Reddit MVP Yvette Cendes, aka, Andromeda321. Then, producer Kalyani Saxena takes Ben down the metaphorical black hole of Saturn's hexagonal storm, a massive vortex twice the width of the Earth that's inspired internet conspiracy theories every bit as unwieldy.

Show notes:

  • Astronomers discover long-period radio transient of unknown origin (Reddit)
  • This storm never ends: Saturn’s north pole (Reddit)
  • Cassini Images Bizarre Hexagon on Saturn (NASA)
  • Cassini: Saturn's Perplexing Hexagon (NASA)

This content was originally created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.

Headshot of Kalyani Saxena
Kalyani Saxena Associate Producer, Here & Now

Kalyani Saxena is an associate producer for Here & Now.

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Headshot of Ben Brock Johnson
Ben Brock Johnson Director, Digital Audio

Ben Brock Johnson is the director of digital audio at WBUR and co-host of the podcast, Endless Thread.

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Headshot of Grace Tatter
Grace Tatter Producer, WBUR Podcasts

Grace Tatter is a producer for WBUR Podcasts.

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Headshot of Paul Vaitkus
Paul Vaitkus Manager of Podcast Production

Paul Vaitkus is the manager of podcast production for WBUR.

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