45 minutes ago
(This post was last modified: 43 minutes ago by Magical Realist.)
https://thedebrief.org/weve-never-seen-a...aDcnRKqe3A
"NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has glimpsed a strange ten-sided atmospheric wave at Saturn’s south pole, the first regular-sided jet pattern ever observed there.
In a recent paper published in Science Advances, researchers examined Saturn’s peculiar decahedron, detecting signs of an entirely new atmospheric phenomenon for the gas giant. A similar hexagon-shaped wave resides at Saturn’s north pole but differs in noticeable ways.
Years of Hubble observations from 2023 to 2025 allowed the team to trace subtle hints that they eventually resolved into the decagonal wave at Saturn’s south pole.
“We’ve never seen anything quite like this in Saturn’s southern hemisphere,” said co-author Amy Simon, OPAL principal investigator, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The northern hexagon has been there every time we’ve looked for more than 40 years. This feature is different — it appears to be strengthening, giving us the rare opportunity to watch a giant atmospheric pattern develop.”
"NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has glimpsed a strange ten-sided atmospheric wave at Saturn’s south pole, the first regular-sided jet pattern ever observed there.
In a recent paper published in Science Advances, researchers examined Saturn’s peculiar decahedron, detecting signs of an entirely new atmospheric phenomenon for the gas giant. A similar hexagon-shaped wave resides at Saturn’s north pole but differs in noticeable ways.
Years of Hubble observations from 2023 to 2025 allowed the team to trace subtle hints that they eventually resolved into the decagonal wave at Saturn’s south pole.
“We’ve never seen anything quite like this in Saturn’s southern hemisphere,” said co-author Amy Simon, OPAL principal investigator, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The northern hexagon has been there every time we’ve looked for more than 40 years. This feature is different — it appears to be strengthening, giving us the rare opportunity to watch a giant atmospheric pattern develop.”