Former Miner Discovers New Wave Pattern on Saturn

A former mine worker peering through a homemade telescope in the Australian outback just helped unlock one of Saturn's biggest mysteries.

Trevor Barry spotted something strange rippling across Saturn's south pole from his backyard observatory in Broken Hill, New South Wales in 2024. Two years later, the 70-year-old amateur astronomer is a published co-author in Science Advances journal, announcing the discovery of a decagon wave around Saturn.

The 10-sided atmospheric wave is the first large jet pattern ever observed in Saturn's southern hemisphere. It's similar to the famous hexagonal hurricane spinning on Saturn's north pole, which NASA discovered in 1981.

"There is no structure like that ever seen anywhere else in the solar system," Barry said. "This is a world-first discovery of a feature never before seen on a planet."

Barry has been capturing space data from his self-built observatory since the early 2000s. He noticed bright spots forming a wave pattern that rippled down into Saturn's south polar region and immediately sent his findings to Professor Agustín Sánchez-Lavega in Spain, a colleague he's worked with since 2008.

The professor confirmed what Barry suspected. NASA scientist Amy Simon had seen the beginning of the structure forming in 2023 Hubble telescope images. Barry's meticulous tracking revealed its full shape.

The Ripple Effect

Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, calls Barry "one of our premier Saturn observers." His data fills critical gaps when the Hubble telescope isn't available.

"He gives us very meticulous reports, his images are really great and he really tracks this stuff over time," Simon said. "That really makes it a lot easier for us to say 'yes, that is real.'"

Barry left high school in Year 10. Now his hometown of Broken Hill is listed in a research paper alongside NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of California.

"All the other authors are professors or PhDs but there's Trevor the mine worker from Broken Hill," he said. "In their list of affiliations, the creme de la creme of institutions on planet Earth, but amongst them is Broken Hill observatory."

The local library has printed and displayed copies of the research paper for residents to read. Barry has also won national and international awards for his astronomical work.

Scientists still don't know exactly how the decagon formed or whether it's permanent, but Barry will keep watching from his backyard as Saturn's secrets continue to unfold.

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