Saturn’s South Pole Is Apparently Decagon-Shaped
The feature may have formed between 2017 and 2023, and one side already exceeds 10,000 miles, researchers said.
- Scientists discovered an enormous 10-sided wave pattern in icy ammonia clouds over Saturn's south pole, a world-first observation published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances by a Spanish-led team.
- Unlike Saturn's stable hexagon observed by Voyager in 1980 and 1981, the southern decagon appears larger and more unstable. Amateur astronomer Trevor Barry from Broken Hill captured critical data that helped confirm the feature.
- Migrating eastward at 6 mph, the decagon's single side exceeds 10,000 miles. NASA planetary scientist Amy Simon described Barry as one of NASA's "premier Saturn observers," noting his meticulous data was essential to differentiate the formation from bad observations.
- Lead author Agustin Sanchez-Lavega with the University of the Basque Country said the findings show "the unique hexagon is not as extraordinary as we thought." Researchers now aim to solve "this intriguing atmospheric mystery."
- Future observations of Saturn's southern hemisphere from the Hubble Space Telescope should clarify whether the decagon will persist or evolve. Scientists remain uncertain if this phenomenon is permanent, as it could still be changing since its recent confirmation in 2023.
11 Articles
11 Articles
Hubble telescope confirms mysterious, 10-sided cloud is growing...
The Hubble Space Telescope spied a large atmospheric phenomenon on Saturn: a decagon surrounding the south pole. New Hubble observations have revealed a dramatic, 10-sided jet surrounding Saturn's south pole, and it appears to be evolving before our eyes. The Hubble Space Telescope recently snapped a high-resolution view of the striking "atmospheric wave," which appears to have begun forming in 2023, archival Hubble images show. Scientists are c…
Saturn’s South Pole Is Apparently Decagon-Shaped
Saturn’s north pole captured by Cassini in 2013. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill) Although some would argue that the hexagon is the bestagon, astronomers have discovered that Saturn appears to favor the ten-sided decagon on its south pole. This comes as its south pole has recently been confirmed to show a pattern that’s oddly ten-sided, per a recent research article by [Agustín Sánchez-Lavega] et al. in Science Advances. Beca…
Scientists find a huge 10-sided wave pattern swirling in the clouds over Saturn’s south pole - WXXV News 25
This photo provided by NASA/ESA/A. Sánchez-Lavega (Basque Country University) shows a pattern of clouds around the Saturn’s south pole on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (NASA/ESA/A. Sánchez-Lavega, Basque Country University, EHU, via AP)By MARCIA DUNN CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists have discovered an enormous 10-sided wave pattern in the icy ammonia clouds over Saturn’s south pole. The spinning, meandering decagon appears to...
Saturn seems to have a particular weakness for… geometry. More than four decades after the discovery of the famous hexagon at its north pole, scientists have spotted a new, even more complex shape at the other end of the planet: a giant atmospheric wave with ten sides. The “decagon” surrounds Saturn’s south pole and was captured with […] Saturn: Hubble captures giant “decagon” at the south pole - pontosnews.gr
The Hubble Space Telescope, operated by Nasa, has identified a large atmospheric wave with an expanding decagon shape around Saturn's southern pole. Astronomical records confirm that the geometric structure of ten sides crosses vertically multiple layers of the atmosphere of the gas giant, discarding an event restricted to the surface. The configuration resembles [...]
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