Scientists Find Huge Decagon on Saturn’s Southern Pole
Hubble observations show the decagon is a vertically layered wave in Saturn’s atmosphere, stretching about 104,000 miles across and echoing the planet’s northern hexagon.
- Astronomers using the ESA Hubble Space Telescope have identified a 10-sided atmospheric wave encircling Saturn's south pole, roughly 104,000 miles across, marking the first discovery of a regularly shaped jet pattern in that region.
- Amateur observers, including Trevor Barry in Australia and Jean-Paul Oger, first spotted suggestive structures in 2024 and 2025, prompting researchers to examine archived Hubble images dating back to 2023.
- Centered near 63 degrees latitude, the decagon extends vertically through multiple atmospheric layers rather than appearing only at cloud-top level, distinguishing it from Saturn's northern hexagon visible for more than 40 years.
- Research findings detailed in Science Advances reveal the feature's vertical structure through shifting positions when imaged at different wavelengths, demonstrating the value of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy program's consistent calibration.
- Scientists will now use the James Webb Space Telescope and computer modeling to investigate how the decagon formed and whether it will persist, while future Hubble monitoring will track potential drift or structural changes.
11 Articles
11 Articles
For more than four decades, Saturn's hexagon has been one of the most unusual known atmospheric phenomena in the Solar System. Now Hubble images have shown that an even more complex structure is developing at the southern pole of the planet - a huge decagonal wave, the origin of which scientists are still trying to explain.
Astronomers using Hubble found a new roughly 104,000-mile-wide ten-sided storm forming at Saturn’s south pole, a geometric twin to the famous hexagon that has long circled the north
Saturn's symmetry breaks: a ten-sided storm now mirrors the planet's legendary hexagon, suggesting these geometric puzzles obey deeper physics we're only beginning to understand.
Saturn has definitely not finished surprising. While its North Pole has been surrounded for more than 40 years by a mysterious hexagon, the Hubble Space Telescope has just revealed another geometric structure around the South Pole. But this time, it is not a hexagon: the powerful...
Science and Heitech: Hubble observations have revealed a giant ten-angle atmospheric wave around the southern pole of Saturn, the first time a large structure with the right shape has been discovered in the southern hemisphere of the planet.
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