Saturn has revealed another atmospheric mystery — and this time, it is hiding at the planet’s south pole. New observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a huge 10-sided atmospheric wave, known as a decagon, surrounding Saturn’s southern polar region. The discovery is particularly intriguing because Saturn has long been famous for the unusual six-sided atmospheric pattern at its north pole. Scientists had searched for a comparable structure in the southern hemisphere for decades, but earlier observations, including those from the Cassini mission, had not revealed one
Hubble’s observations now show that the southern pattern is not simply a static cloud formation. The decagon is embedded within one of Saturn’s powerful jet streams and extends through multiple levels of the atmosphere. Researchers were able to trace the feature using observations dating back to 2023. Ground-based observations had already provided early hints of the unusual structure, while Hubble’s sharper view from space helped confirm its shape and atmospheric extent
