Major discovery on Saturn - as probes close in on Mercury

Published 09/07/2026 at 1:55 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Portland, Oregon) - Two major developments in space this week have much of the planet excited for what discoveries may soon come, as a pair of space probes get closer to orbiting Mercury and a new feature is found on Saturn. (Photo NASA: A single filter from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope distinctly shows a 10-sided wave encircling Saturn’s south pole, labeled “decagon”. An “X” denotes where data was not captured.)

The European Space Agency (ESA) reports some serious progress in approaching Mercury, and the first time humankind will be orbiting the innermost world.

After eight years traveling through the inner Solar System, BepiColombo is beginning its arrival at Mercury. The joint ESA–JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) mission will become the first to place two orbiters around the planet, with ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mio set to operate simultaneously.

The arrival phase opened on 3 September 2026 with the successful separation of the Mercury Transfer Module, confirmed by deep-space antennas in Spain and Argentina. Telemetry shows systems are stable and MPO’s solar panels are powering the spacecraft.

All of this will require a new set of capabilities.

BepiColombo at separation

“Behind today's success are years of preparation by teams across the BepiColombo mission,” said ESA. “Executing a critical separation more than 200 million kilometres from Earth demands precise planning, navigation and commanding, with no opportunity for real-time intervention.”

BepiColombo will enter Mercury orbit on 21 November 2026. MPO and Mio will separate on 9–10 December, with full science operations scheduled to begin in April 2027.

No, it isn't aliens but it is indeed an intriguing new head-scratcher in science. Our gas giant neighbor Saturn sprouted something new.

Recent observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a giant, evolving 10-sided atmospheric wave circling Saturn’s south pole - the first time a large, regular jet pattern has been seen in the planet’s southern hemisphere. This time it's a decagon.

NASA

Yet this is the second such surreal discovery in the great beyond. The structure resembles Saturn’s well-known northern hexagon but shows distinct differences, suggesting scientists may be watching a new atmospheric feature take shape.

The findings were published last week in Science Advances.

Researchers assembled several years of Hubble data dating back to 2023, noting faint hints of the pattern before it became clearly defined. The observations come from Hubble’s Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy program, which has kept eyes on the outer planets for more than a decade.

Oregon, Washington, Coastline (see NW from space) | Astronomy News, Updates from Oregon Coast, Washington Coast

“We’ve never seen anything quite like this in Saturn’s southern hemisphere,” said Amy Simon, study co-author and OPAL principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “The northern hexagon has been stable for more than 40 years. This feature appears to be strengthening, giving us the rare chance to watch a giant atmospheric pattern develop.”

Saturn’s shifting seasons recently brought the south pole back into view, allowing Earth-based astronomers to spot the emerging structure. Then, with Hubble’s sharper, atmosphere-free vantage point, Earth's famous outer space worker telescope confirmed the decagon and tracked it across full rotations of the planet.

The wave sits inside a powerful jet stream. As Saturn is a gas giant, it's mostly made up of multiple and raging atmospheric layers. This mysterious object apparently spans many such layers, indicating a vertically extended structure rather than a cloud-level formation.

“The decagon’s apparent position shifts slightly, because Hubble captures images from different wavelengths,” said NASA. “Those different wavelengths probe different altitudes in Saturn's atmosphere.”

Scientists say continued monitoring by Hubble, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, and atmospheric modeling will be needed to determine how the decagon formed, how long it may persist, and how it compares to the long-lived hexagon in the north.

 

 

 

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