Illustration of storm near the pole of the L-Dwarf star W1906+40. The star is 53 light years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The storm, thought
Illustration of storm near the pole of the L-Dwarf star W1906+40. The star is 53 light years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The storm, thought to be similar to the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, was discovered using NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes. The location of the storm is estimated to be near the north pole of the star, although the telescopes cannot see the storm itself. The storm travels around the star, making a full lap about every 9 hours. When it passes into a telescope's field of view, it causes a dip in brightness. The storm has persisted for at least two years. While planets are known to have cloudy storms, this is the best evidence yet for a star with the same type of storm. L-dwarfs are a thermally cool class of objects . Some L-dwarfs are considered stars because they fuse atoms and generate light, while others, called brown dwarfs, are known as failed stars for their lack of atomic fusion.
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Photo credit: © NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (IPAC)/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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