Astronomers have discovered a giant decagonal (ten-sided) cloud structure approximately 168,000 kilometers long at Saturn’s south pole. This mysterious atmospheric structure, which is larger than the famous hexagon at the planet’s north pole, has caused great excitement in the scientific community.
“Elchi” reports that Saturn, the ringed planet, has added another entry to its list of amazing geometric structures in its atmosphere. After the famous hexagonal structure observed at the planet’s north pole for decades, scientists have now discovered a giant ten-sided cloud structure at the south pole.
According to a study published in the journal Science Advances, the newly discovered decagonal structure is approximately 167,820 kilometers long, with each of its ten sides measuring approximately 16,780 kilometers. These massive dimensions indicate that the new structure at the south pole is significantly larger than the 32,000-kilometer hexagon found in the north.
A surprising image that emerged after years
The existence of the new structure was revealed as a result of the analysis of data recorded by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Due to Saturn’s axial tilt, the planet’s southern hemisphere could not be clearly observed from Earth between 2012 and 2023.
Once the viewing angle became favorable, the images obtained revealed this symmetrical cloud pattern to astronomers – a feature that had never been detected before. Experts noted that the result was a big surprise, as they had been searching for a similar geometric pattern at the south pole since the northern hexagon was discovered, but had found no signs until now.
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