Saturn has ‘dark beads’ and other ‘unexplained’ structures in atmosphere: paper

Never-before-seen “dark beads” and other unique structures were observed in the atmosphere above the north pole of Saturn — stumping astronomers who say the “unexplained” phenomenon has “no analog” in our solar system, according to a recently published paper.

The shocking structures were observed by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Spectrograph, which was aimed at the distinctive form swirling in the hexagonal storm at the north pole of the gaseous ringed planet, according to a paper published on Aug. 28 in Geophysical Research Letters.

Astronomers were keyed into Saturn’s ionosphere where they recorded both beads and a possibly associated “six-pointed star” shape formed by atmospheric “extending arms,” the paper stated.

“We have discovered a series of ionospheric dark ‘beads,’ forming across a range of longitude, away from the region with the brightest aurora,” the scientists summarized in the paper.

The paper suggested the beads are “dynamically stable over hour-long timescales” and were likely being formed “as a result of shears between ionospheric winds.”

Further, Saturn’s upper stratosphere has a formation “unlike anything previously known,” the paper stated.

“A dark polar cap appears to be extending arms down into the sub-equatorial region, with spokes reaching out as a six-pointed star. However, two of these six arms are missing, resulting in a strangely asymmetric structure,” the paper read.

The paper’s findings were “completely unexpected and unexplained,” astronomy professor Tom Stallard from Northumbria University said.

“We anticipated seeing emissions in broad bands at the various levels. Instead, we’ve seen fine-scaled patterns of beads and stars that, despite being separated by huge distances in altitude, may somehow be interconnected,” Stallard said in a published statement. 

“And [they] may also be linked to the famous hexagon deeper in Saturn’s clouds. These features were completely unexpected and, at present, are completely unexplained.”

The paper stated that neither the “dark beads” nor the “extending arms” have “any known analog at other planets.”

Despite the uniqueness of Saturn’s feature, the scientists suggested further study of the phenomenon could provide context for Earth’s own thermosphere as well as the “complex interactions within Jupiter and the Ice Giants ionospheres,” the paper stated.