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> “Saturn has a hexagon at the north pole,” said Bolton. “There is nothing on Jupiter that anywhere near resembles that. The largest planet in our solar system

by vacri 10y ago

> “Saturn has a hexagon at the north pole,” said Bolton. “There is nothing on Jupiter that anywhere near resembles that. The largest planet in our solar system is truly unique. We have 36 more flybys to study just how unique it really is.” Eh? Jupiter is 'truly unique' because it doesn't have an extremely puzzling feature that only one other planet is known to have?

tizzdogg 10y ago
Why are people getting bent out of shape about the word "unique"? It is unique because Jupiter has features that we have not observed on any other planet, some of which are mentioned in the article (different types of storm systems, high altitude clouds casting shadows etc). From context, he is clearly not only talking about Saturn's hexagon. This pedantry is ridiculous.
- Bjartr 10y ago
  People are confused. As was I at first. Considering the emphasis "truly unique" I expected more treatment of that point by the article. By not having that I was left feeling like I missed something / confused. People generally don't like feeling confused. Personally, I don't understand the people defending the usage here. As far as I have experienced in my life, when people say "unique" in good faith they mean "one of a kind" and those people who don't use it that way are considered to have done a bait-and-switch. That said, perhaps there's been a lingustic shift I haven't yet noticed.
- vacri 10y ago
  > "One of the most notable findings of these first-ever pictures of Jupiter’s north and south poles is something that the JunoCam imager did not see." No, the article is actually saying that the lack of a hexagon is important. Combined with such insights as "some clouds are higher than other things", the mentioned items really don't add up to a breathless "truly unique". The things we already knew about Jupiter - the vibrant bands and the red dot as obvious starters - are far more interesting and worthy of a discussion about what makes the planet unique.
- jessriedel 10y ago
  It's clickbaity. People who already find a topic fascinating will skip right past it and not understand why other readers will bother to complain about clickbait.

by vacri 10y ago

tizzdogg 10y ago

Why are people getting bent out of shape about the word "unique"? It is unique because Jupiter has features that we have not observed on any other planet, some of which are mentioned in the article (different types of storm systems, high altitude clouds casting shadows etc). From context, he is clearly not only talking about Saturn's hexagon. This pedantry is ridiculous.

Bjartr 10y ago
People are confused. As was I at first. Considering the emphasis "truly unique" I expected more treatment of that point by the article. By not having that I was left feeling like I missed something / confused. People generally don't like feeling confused. Personally, I don't understand the people defending the usage here. As far as I have experienced in my life, when people say "unique" in good faith they mean "one of a kind" and those people who don't use it that way are considered to have done a bait-and-switch. That said, perhaps there's been a lingustic shift I haven't yet noticed.
vacri 10y ago
> "One of the most notable findings of these first-ever pictures of Jupiter’s north and south poles is something that the JunoCam imager did not see." No, the article is actually saying that the lack of a hexagon is important. Combined with such insights as "some clouds are higher than other things", the mentioned items really don't add up to a breathless "truly unique". The things we already knew about Jupiter - the vibrant bands and the red dot as obvious starters - are far more interesting and worthy of a discussion about what makes the planet unique.
jessriedel 10y ago
It's clickbaity. People who already find a topic fascinating will skip right past it and not understand why other readers will bother to complain about clickbait.