Astronomers Discover Decagonal Wave circling Saturn’s South Pole
Astronomers have identified a new 10-sided atmospheric wave, or decagon, circling Saturn's south pole. This discovery provides a rare opportunity to study the development of giant atmospheric patterns in real-time.
Why it matters
Understanding planetary atmospheric dynamics helps scientists refine models of fluid dynamics and weather patterns on gas giants.
For almost five decades, Saturn’s north pole has been famous for hosting a bizarre, six-sided jet stream known as the hexagon , a feature first spotted by NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in the 1980s and still churning today. Astronomers had long wondered whether the ringed planet’s southern hemisphere might hide a mirror-image structure. Now, it turns out the south pole has been quietly growing something of its own: a decagon.
These Hubble images show Saturn and the gas giant’s southern pole with its 10-sided atmospheric wave. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Agustin Sánchez-Lavega, UPV / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Michael Wong, UC Berkeley / Alyssa Pagan.
Saturn’s southern hemisphere dropped out of view from Earth in 2012 because of the planet’s axial tilt, and didn’t become observable again until 2023.
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