Never-before-seen “dark beads” and other unique structures were observed in the atmosphere above the north pole of Saturn — stumping astronomers who say the “unexplained” phenomenon has “no analog” in our solar system, according to a recently published paper.

The shocking structures were observed by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Spectrograph, which was aimed at the distinctive form swirling in the hexagonal storm at the north pole of the gaseous ringed planet, according to a paper published on Aug. 28 in Geophysical Research Letters.

Saturn as previously imaged by the Cassini probe, which did not detect the “black beads” or other structures.

Astronomers were keyed into Saturn’s ionosphere where they recorded both beads and a possibly associated “six-pointed star” shap

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