Golden ammonia clouds whipped by 1,800 km/h equatorial jet streams.
Saturn is famous for its rings of ice, but its weather is equally wild. Supersonic winds tear across the equator, and a bizarre hexagon-shaped jet stream wider than two Earths spins continuously at its north pole.
Verified science answered in plain, accessible language.
The Saturn Hexagon is a persistent 6-sided geometric jet stream pattern at Saturn's north pole. Spanning roughly 30,000 km wide, it is maintained by sharp shear forces between high-speed atmospheric currents.
Saturn has some of the fastest winds in the Solar System, with equatorial atmospheric streams reaching up to 1,800 km/h (1,100 mph), far surpassing Earth's Category 5 hurricanes.
Saturn's rings are composed of billions of pieces of nearly pure water ice, ranging in size from tiny dust specks to house-sized boulders, coated in trace silicate and tholin dust.
The estimated average temperature on Saturn is -140°C / -220°F.
A full day-night cycle on Saturn lasts about 10.66 Earth hours.
Saturn is 1.2 – 1.7 billion km from Earth.
Saturn's atmospheric pressure is > 1 million bar at core boundary.
Hydrogen and helium haze layered above dense water and ammonia clouds.
Supersonic equatorial jet streams moving at up to 1,800 km/h—over four times faster than Earth's strongest hurricanes.
A permanent, geometric six-sided vortex spinning at the north pole (the Saturn Hexagon).
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