Saturn’s north pole is famous for its hexagonal atmospheric pattern. Researchers are now tracking a ten-sided wave around the planet’s south pole, using Hubble observations and contributions from amateur astronomers.
Hubble’s monitoring since 2023, together with amateur images from 2024 and 2025, helped reveal the evolving pattern. Observations probing different atmospheric layers provide clues to its structure. Saturn’s changing seasons also affect which polar regions are visible from Earth.
The new southern feature offers a comparison with the long-lived northern hexagon. Astronomers can use both to investigate how large-scale waves develop in a giant planet’s atmosphere. The ten-sided shape is a result of detailed image analysis; it is not a feature most observers should expect to resolve through a small backyard telescope.
Source: NASA report (2026-09-02).
