NASA的哈勃太空望远镜在土星南极观测到一个巨大的十边形大气结构,这是科学家首次在土星南半球发现这样的大规模有规则喷流图案1。该十边形位于土星强大喷流内部,延伸穿过大气多层,不仅限于云层顶部1。
根据哈勃数据,这一结构在2023年开始出现迹象,2024年被业余天文学家注意到,2025年确认发展成为十边形1。这一发现与土星著名的北极六边形相似但存在重要差异1。北极六边形已存在超过40年,而南极十边形是最近才形成的1。
NASA戈达德太空飞行中心的研究员Amy Simon提出:"为什么它突然在现在形成,而我们之前从未看到过?"1研究人员希望通过持续观测揭示其形成原因1。该发现已发表在《科学进展》2026年第12卷第36期上,由巴斯克国立大学的Agustín Sánchez-Lavega、Amy Simon以及业余天文学家Trevor Barry和Jean-Paul Oger等研究人员参与1。
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected a massive 10-sided pattern in the atmosphere above Saturn's south pole, marking the first time scientists have observed such a large-scale, regularly-shaped jet stream formation in the planet's southern hemisphere 1. The structure, which extends through multiple atmospheric layers rather than remaining confined to cloud tops, represents a significant discovery comparable to but distinctly different from Saturn's famous northern hexagon, which has persisted for over 40 years 1.
The decagon began showing signs of formation in 2023, was noticed by amateur astronomers in 2024, and has now developed into a fully-formed 10-sided structure by 2025 1. Research led by Agustín Sánchez-Lavega of the University of the Basque Country and Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, along with amateur astronomers Trevor Barry and Jean-Paul Oger, has documented the pattern's emergence and continuing intensification using both the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes 1. The findings, published in Science Advances in Volume 12, Issue 36, 2026, raise fundamental questions about the mechanism behind this atmospheric phenomenon 1. Simon emphasized the puzzle at the heart of the discovery, asking, "Why did it suddenly form now, when we have never seen anything like it before?" 1
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