Hubble captures ten-sided jet swirling above Saturn’s southern pole

A team of scientists analyzing Hubble Space Telescope observations has reported a decagonal jet surrounding Saturn’s south pole, a structure not observed during the Cassini mission. The pattern emerged in images from last autumn and was faintly visible in data as early as 2023, though its exact origin date remains unknown because no spacecraft have visited Saturn since 2017. The discovery challenges the view that the north-pole hexagon is unique, indicating that similar polygonal jets can form elsewhere on the planet.

Researchers, including Agustín Sánchez-Lavega and Amy Simon, propose that disturbances from a nearby storm could have generated the shape, and they intend to track its evolution with future Hubble and James Webb observations. The finding underscores the dynamic and turbulent nature of Saturn’s atmosphere, where fast rotation and temperature gradients produce complex wind patterns.