Montage of Star Arms in Saturn’s Stratosphere (VIDEO)
Caption
This video of Saturn’s stratosphere shows a complex and highly surprising star-shaped structure, revealed for the first time by JWST’s unprecedented sensitivity. Four dark bands extend away from the polar region, appearing to make up four out of six arms that align with Saturn’s famous hexagon within the lower atmosphere. At this point, it is unknown why the dark arms are flowing towards the equator, or why two of the arms are missing, but the causes may be associated with the complex bead structures observed many hundreds of kilometres above in the ionosphere.
Credit
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/Stallard et al 2025.
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