Recent observations with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a giant, evolving, 10-sided atmospheric wave encircling Saturn’s south pole. This discovery marks the first time a large, regular-sided jet pattern has been observed in the planet’s southern hemisphere. The feature appears remarkably similar to Saturn’s famous hexagon at its northern pole , but is also distinctly different, suggesting scientists may be witnessing a new atmospheric phenomenon develop on the iconic gas giant.
美国宇航局哈勃太空望远镜最近的观测揭示了土星南极周围存在一个巨大的、不断演化的十边形大气波。这一发现标志着首次在地球南半球观察到大型、规则侧面的喷流图案。这一特征看起来与土星北极著名的六边形非常相似，但也明显不同，这表明科学家可能正在目睹这颗标志性气态巨星上出现的一种新的大气现象。
The results published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.
研究结果周三发表在《科学进展》杂志上。
By piecing together several years of Hubble observations dating back to 2023, researchers found subtle hints of the structure beginning to emerge before it became a clearly defined pattern. Those observations were taken as part of Hubble’s Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program, which has photographed the outer planets annually for more than a decade .
通过将哈勃望远镜自 2023 年以来的数年观测结果拼凑起来，研究人员发现，在该结构成为明确定义的模式之前，就开始出现微妙的暗示。这些观测结果是哈勃外行星大气遗产（OPAL）计划的一部分，该计划十多年来每年都会拍摄外行星的照片。
“We’ve never seen anything quite like this in Saturn’s southern hemisphere,” said Amy Simon, study co-author and OPAL principal investigator, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The northern hexagon has been there every time we’ve looked for more than 40 years. This feature is different — it appears to be strengthening, giving us the rare opportunity to watch a giant atmospheric pattern develop.”
“我们在土星南半球从未见过这样的情况，”研究合著者、位于马里兰州格林贝尔特的 NASA 戈达德太空飞行中心 OPAL 首席研究员艾米·西蒙 (Amy Simon) 说。 “40多年来，我们每次寻找北六边形都在那里。这个特征是不同的——它似乎正在加强，为我们提供了难得的机会来观察巨大的大气模式的发展。”
The discovery was possible because Saturn’s changing seasons gradually brought the planet’s south pole back into view from Earth, where astronomers who collectively analyze images of Saturn from ground-based observatories first identified it.
这一发现之所以成为可能，是因为土星季节的变化逐渐使土星的南极重新回到地球的视野中，天文学家在集体分析来自地面观测站的土星图像时首先发现了它。
Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, lead author of the new study, is a researcher at the University of the Basque Country in Spain. The university manages a website, called Planetary Virtual Observatory Laboratory , that accepts ground-based images of solar system planets contributed by observers all over the world. It was in those images, first in 2024, that Sánchez-Lavega and amateur astronomers Trevor Barry and Jean-Paul Oger noticed a subtle undulating band along the southern pole. Additional 2025 imagery taken from the ground hinted even more strongly toward this decagon structure.
这项新研究的主要作者阿古斯丁·桑切斯-拉韦加是西班牙巴斯克大学的研究员。该大学管理着一个名为“行星虚拟观测实验室”的网站，该网站接受世界各地观测者提供的太阳系行星的地面图像。正是在 2024 年的这些图像中，桑切斯-拉韦加和业余天文学家特雷弗·巴里 (Trevor Barry) 和让-保罗·奥格 (Jean-Paul Oger) 注意到沿着南极点有一条微妙的起伏带。 2025 年从地面拍摄的额外图像更加强烈地暗示了这种十边形结构。
That’s when the Hubble observations come into the picture. Hubble’s view from space offers unmatched image sharpness and spatial resolution over full rotations of Saturn, without smearing by Earth’s atmosphere.
这时候哈勃观测就发挥作用了。哈勃望远镜的太空视野在土星完整旋转过程中提供了无与伦比的图像清晰度和空间分辨率，而不会受到地球大气层的影响。
“Given Saturn’s symmetry in its north-south jet stream system, we have been searching for a counterpart to Saturn’s northern hexagon on the south pole in Hubble images since 1990,” Sánchez-Lavega said. “Images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn between 2004 and 2017, showed no inkling of a long-lived formation, either. The Hubble data confirmed the feature’s presence back to 2023.”
“鉴于土星在南北急流系统中的对称性，自 1990 年以来，我们一直在哈勃图像中寻找土星南极北部六边形的对应物，”桑切斯-拉维加说。 “美国宇航局卡西尼号航天器在 2004 年至 2017 年间绕土星运行，其拍摄的图像也没有显示出存在长寿形成的迹象。哈勃数据早在 2023 年就证实了该特征的存在。”
The wave sits within one of Saturn’s powerful jet streams and extends through multiple layers of the atmosphere, indicating it is not just a cloud-level feature, but a vertically extended atmospheric structure. The decagon’s apparent position shifts slightly, because Hubble captures images from different wavelengths. Those different wavelengths probe different altitudes in Saturn’s atmosphere.
该波位于土星强大的急流之一内，并延伸穿过大气层的多层，表明它不仅仅是云层特征，而且是垂直延伸的大气结构。由于哈勃望远镜捕获了不同波长的图像，十边形的表观位置略有变化。这些不同的波长探测土星大气层的不同高度。
“The most intriguing part to me is that this seems to have just formed recently,” said Simon. “The question is, why did it suddenly form now when we haven’t seen one before?”
“对我来说最有趣的是，这似乎是最近才形成的，”西蒙说。 “问题是，为什么我们以前没有见过它，现在却突然形成了？”
The authors say further study is needed from Hubble and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope , as well as analysis of computer models, to understand how the decagon formed, how long it may last, and how it compares to the long-lived hexagon in the north.
作者表示，需要哈勃和美国宇航局的詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜进行进一步的研究，以及对计算机模型的分析，以了解十边形是如何形成的、它可能持续多久，以及它与北方长寿的六边形相比如何。
Hubble’s long duration in operation has allowed astronomers to track changes over time in solar system planets and other astronomical objects as well.
哈勃望远镜的长期运行使天文学家能够追踪太阳系行星和其他天体随时间的变化。
Rather than providing a single snapshot, the OPAL program allows scientists to follow seasonal changes, track short-lived storms, and identify other atmospheric features that evolve slowly over time.
OPAL 计划不是提供单一快照，而是让科学家能够跟踪季节变化、追踪短暂的风暴，并识别随时间缓慢演变的其他大气特征。
“When we started the OPAL program, we expected compelling surprises, but we didn’t know what to expect specifically,” said Mike Wong, study co-author, University of California, Berkeley. “A lot of the discoveries we see coming from OPAL are not just based on one observation, but on years and years of data. Regular observations over time are enabling a lot of new findings.”
“当我们启动 OPAL 计划时，我们期待着令人信服的惊喜，但我们不知道具体会发生什么，”加州大学伯克利分校的研究合著者 Mike Wong 说。 “我们从 OPAL 中看到的许多发现不仅仅是基于一次观察，而是基于多年的数据。随着时间的推移，定期观察正在促成许多新发现。”
The team plans to continue observing Saturn to determine whether the decagon settles into a long-lived, stable configuration like the northern hexagon or continues to evolve. Future observations also could help scientists determine what drives the wave, what it reveals about the atmospheric dynamics of giant planets throughout the solar system, and how they may relate to those we see here on Earth.
该团队计划继续观测土星，以确定十边形是否会形成像北六边形这样的长期稳定的结构，还是继续演化。未来的观测还可以帮助科学家确定是什么驱动了波浪，它揭示了整个太阳系巨行星的大气动力学，以及它们与我们在地球上看到的行星之间的关系。
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for more than three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
哈勃太空望远镜已经运行了三十多年，并不断做出突破性的发现，塑造我们对宇宙的基本理解。哈勃望远镜是 NASA 和 ESA（欧洲航天局）之间的国际合作项目。美国宇航局位于马里兰州格林贝尔特的戈达德太空飞行中心负责管理望远镜和任务操作。洛克希德·马丁航天公司还支持戈达德的任务运营。位于巴尔的摩的太空望远镜科学研究所由天文学研究大学协会运营，为美国宇航局进行哈勃科学操作。