Saturn has a new, odd weather pattern resembling a decagon near its south pole. This may have formed due to a large storm nearby, but researchers aren’t totally sure. The pattern has clearly defined sides shaped by powerful winds, looking like a decagon – a geometric polygon with 10 sides and 10 angles – from above.
It is similar to a hexagonal weather pattern first seen at the planet’s north pole more than 40 years ago. Saturn’s rings may have formed after a huge collision with Titan “[But] the one at the north is a bit smaller,” says Amy Simon at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. The south pole pattern also seems to be moving a bit more with the rotation of the planet.
The feature was first spotted by amateur astronomers in 2024. Simon and her colleagues then examined images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope from 2023 to 2025. It is unclear exactly when the pattern formed, with no spacecraft having orbited Saturn since 2017.
It is thought to result from a large atmospheric wave shaped by wind from a powerful jet stream that meanders near the planet’s south pole. Its formation may be linked to a large nearby storm, although the exact cause is a bit of a mystery. No similar pattern has been observed on any other planets, although Jupiter does have an arrangement of cyclones at its poles.
We don’t know how long the pattern will last. Other telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope, are poised to study it in more detail, but many scientists are vying for access to those. Science Advances DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aee4251
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