Summer on Saturn! NASA captures the changing of the seasons on the ringed planet in an amazing new snapshot from the James Webb Space Telescope

Britain may be experiencing somewhat of an Indian summer as record-breaking heat wards off autumn's arrival. With Saturn heading for northern autumn equinox in 2025, an amazing new snapshot from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured the changing of the seasons in immaculate detail — and offered an interesting insight. Fascinating: With Saturn heading for northern autumn equinox in 2025, an amazing new snapshot from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured the changing of the seasons in immaculate detail — and offered an interesting insight Changing faces: Seasons on Saturn last seven-and-a-half years rather than three months, because it takes the famous ringed world almost three decades to orbit the sun. Facts and figures Distance from Sun: 1.434 billion km Orbital period: 29 years Surface area: 42.7 billion km² Radius: 58,232 km Mass: 5.683 × 10^26 kg Length of day: 0d 10h 42m Moons: 82 with formal designations; innumerable additional moonlets It reveals the sixth planet from the sun is actually experiencing a cooling trend in its northern hemisphere, the opposite of what had previously been thought. The weather forecast reveals the sixth planet from the sun is actually experiencing a cooling trend in its northern hemisphere, the opposite of what had previously been thought Key: The Leicester team used the Mid-Infrared Instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope to study Saturn's atmosphere in infrared light With Saturn's 2025 autumn equinox now fast approaching, the north polar stratospheric vortex will begin cooling down and eventually disappear as the northern hemisphere recedes into the darkness of autumn.