Saturn has apparently begun collecting polygons.
For more than four decades, astronomers have watched an enormous six-sided atmospheric wave circling the planet’s north pole.
Now Hubble has confirmed something new at the other end: a giant, evolving 10-sided wave around Saturn’s south pole.
The feature seems to have emerged only in the past few years. Amateur astronomers first noticed something peculiar in ground-based images, and Hubble later confirmed that the pattern extends through multiple layers of the atmosphere.
Scientists do not yet know why it formed, how long it will last, or why Saturn seems uniquely inclined toward geometry.
Some planets have weather.
Saturn has architecture.
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