Saturn's aurora appears in blue in this image of the ringed planet's South Pole. This image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004. Click on image for full size (41 Kb) Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, J. Clarke (Boston University), and Z. Levay (STScI).

There's a lot of strange and interesting stuff going on at both the North and South Poles of Saturn. Features at the poles of two of Saturn's moons, Titan and Enceladus, have also grabbed the attention of astronomers.

There are weird atmospheric phenomena and peculiar patterns in the clouds near each of Saturn's poles. An odd hexagonal pattern around the North Pole was first spotted in the 1980s. More recent images from the Cassini spacecraft may eventually help scientists determine the cause of this puzzling geometric structure. In 2006, Cassini spotted a bizarre "hurricane-like" storm swirling around Saturn's South Pole.

Saturn, like Earth and Jupiter and some other planets, has a global magnetic field. Unlike most planets, Saturn's spin axis is almost perfectly aligned with its magnetic field. The direction of the magnetic field diverges from Saturn's spin axis by less than 1°. For comparison, Earth's magnetic poles are about 11.4° away from its geographic poles, Jupiter's dipole field axis is out of alignment with its spin axis by about 9.6°, and the magnetic field of Uranus is tilted a whopping 58.6°!

Saturn's magnetic field channels swarms of energetic subatomic particles towards the planet's magnetic poles. Collisions of these particles with gases in Saturn's atmosphere produce the glowing light of the aurora. Saturn, like Earth, has Southern and Northern Lights!

Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has frigid lakes of liquid natural gas at each of its poles. Astronomers have also spotted clouds, whose rain might fill the polar lakes, near both of Titan's poles.

The South Pole of Enceladus, one of Saturn's mid-sized moons, is one of the most intriguing places in our Solar System. Surprisingly warm (compared to the rest of this icy moon) "tiger stripe" features on the surface seem somehow connected to elaborate underground "plumbing". This plumbing system creates geysers that spew ice high into the sky above the South Pole of Enceladus.

This picture shows the aurora over Saturn's South Pole. The aurora (Southern Lights) are shown in blue in this picture. The Hubble Space Telescope took this picture in 2004. Click on image for full size (41 Kb) Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, J. Clarke (Boston University), and Z. Levay (STScI).

There's a lot of strange and interesting stuff going on at both the North and South Poles of Saturn. Two of Saturn's moons also have interesting polar regions. Let's take a look!

The atmosphere and clouds are quite odd at both of Saturn's poles. Scientists first spotted a strange hexagonal pattern around the North Pole in the 1980s. In 2006, the Cassini spacecraft found a weird "hurricane-like" storm swirling around Saturn's South Pole.

Saturn, like Earth and some other planets, has a magnetic field. On most planets the magnetic field is not quite lined up straight with the planet's spin axis. Saturn is unusual in this way. Its spin axis is almost perfectly aligned with its magnetic field. The two are only 1° apart. For comparison, Earth's magnetic poles are tilted about 11° away from its geographic poles. On the planet Uranus, the tilt angle is almost 57°!

Saturn's magnetic field steers swarms of high-energy subatomic particles towards the planet's magnetic poles. When these particles hit gas molecules in Saturn's atmosphere they produce the glowing light of the aurora. Saturn, like Earth, has Southern and Northern Lights!

There are interesting poles on some of Saturn's moons, too. Titan is Saturn's largest moon. It has frigid lakes of liquid natural gas at each of its poles. Astronomers have also spotted clouds near Titan's poles. Maybe rain from those clouds fills up the polar lakes.

Enceladus is one of Saturn's mid-sized moons. The South Pole of Enceladus is another interesting place. Long "tiger stripe" features on the surface are much, much warmer than other places on this icy moon. There are even geysers that spew ice high into the sky above the South Pole of Enceladus.

This picture shows the aurora over Saturn's South Pole. The aurora (Southern Lights) are shown in blue in this picture. The Hubble Space Telescope took this picture in 2004. Click on image for full size (41 Kb) Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, J. Clarke (Boston University), and Z. Levay (STScI).

There's a lot of strange stuff going on at both the North and South Poles of Saturn. Two of Saturn's moons also have interesting polar regions. Let's take a look!

The atmosphere and clouds are quite odd at both of Saturn's poles. Scientists have been seeing a strange hexagonal pattern around the North Pole for years. The Cassini spacecraft found a weird "hurricane-like" storm swirling around Saturn's South Pole.

Saturn has a magnetic field. On most planets the magnetic field is not quite lined up straight with the planet's spin axis. Saturn is different. Its spin axis is almost perfectly lined up with its magnetic field. They are only 1° apart. For comparison, Earth's magnetic poles are tilted about 11° away from its geographic poles. On the planet Uranus, the tilt angle is almost 57°!

Saturn's magnetic field steers swarms of high-energy particles towards the planet's magnetic poles. These particles hit gas molecules in Saturn's atmosphere. When the particles and molecules collide they make the glowing light of the aurora. Saturn, like Earth, has Southern and Northern Lights!

There are interesting poles on some of Saturn's moons, too. Titan is Saturn's largest moon. It has very cold lakes of liquid natural gas at each of its poles. Astronomers have also spotted clouds near Titan's poles. Maybe rain from those clouds fills up the polar lakes.

Enceladus is one of Saturn's mid-sized moons. The South Pole of Enceladus is another interesting place. Long "tiger stripe" features on the surface are much, much warmer than other places on this icy moon. There are even geysers that shoot ice high into the sky above the South Pole of Enceladus!