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 curious about how this "decagon" popped up so quickly, given that Saturn's other famous multisided wave — a hexagon at the north pole — has been observed on the planet for 40-plus years.
"The question is, why did it suddenly form now when we haven't seen one before?" Amy Simon, a senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and co-author of a new study describing the observations, said in a statement.
"The northern hexagon has been there every time we've looked for more than 40 y...
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