Decagon on Saturn’s South Pole (Single Filter) - NASA Science

TheTools · 02.09.2026 18:00 · source · permalink

1 min read

A single wavelength of light from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 provides a particularly clear view of the 10-sided atmospheric wave discovered encircling Saturn’s south pole. The feature, labeled “decagon,” is embedded within one of Saturn’s powerful jet streams. The wave is centered around 63 degrees south latitude, and its apparent position shifts slightly depending on the wavelength of light observed. Observations from Hubble at different wavelengths of light reveal the structure at different altitudes. Hubble observations also show that the feature was present as early as 2023 and has become more pronounced over subsequent years.

The “X” and dashed circle in the image represents where data was not captured by Hubble.

About the Data

Data Description
Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
These images were created with Hubble data from proposal: 17843 (A. Simon).
Instrument
InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
WFC3/UVIS
Exposure Dates
Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
29 Aug 2025
Filters
FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
F395N, F502N, F631N

These images were created with Hubble data from proposal: 17843 (A. Simon).

Object Name
Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
Saturn
Object Description
Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
Gas giant in our solar system
Release Date
September 2, 2026
Science Release
NASA’s Hubble Tracks New Decagon Encircling Saturn’s South Pole
Read the release
Credit
Image: NASA, ESA, STScI, Agustin Sánchez-Lavega (UPV), Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan

These images were acquired by the WFC3/UVIS instrument on Hubble. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to a monochromatic (grayscale) image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F395N, Green: F502N, Red: F631N

Related Images & Videos

Side-by-side comparison of two views of the gas giant Saturn, labeled “August 29, 2025” at the top left corner. At left is a straight-on view of Saturn, a globe with pale yellow horizontal bands at the equator and orange and pink at the mid-latitudes. Some bands towards the north and south pole have a light blue hue. There are prominent horizontal rings circling at the equator. At right, labeled “Saturn’s south pole,” the south-polar view of Saturn shows concentric bands in its atmosphere, mostly tan and orange, surrounding a dark central region that has a 10-sided outline. A small, dashed circle at the very center of the pole with an “X” inside denotes missing data.

Decagon on Saturn’s South Pole (Color)

Recent NASA Hubble Space Telescope images show the gas giant Saturn and its southern pole, where astronomers have discovered a 10-sided atmospheric wave. Observations show the decagon extends through multiple layers of Saturn’s atmosphere.

Details

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
[email protected]

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