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Decagon on Saturn’s South Pole (Single Filter)

A black and white view of Saturn’s south pole, labeled “August 29, 2025” and “F763M.” The south-polar view of Saturn shows concentric bands of its atmosphere, transitioning from bright outer bands to a dark central region outlined in a 10-sided pattern. This outline is labeled “decagon.” A small, dashed circle at the very center of the pole with an “X” inside denotes missing data.

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
  • 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

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A black and white view of Saturn’s south pole, labeled “August 29, 2025” and “F763M.” The south-polar view of Saturn shows concentric bands of its atmosphere, transitioning from bright outer bands to a dark central region outlined in a 10-sided pattern. This outline is labeled “decagon.” A small, dashed circle at the very center of the pole with an “X” inside denotes missing data.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

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.

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Details

Last Updated
Sep 02, 2026
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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