Illustration of a cool star, called W1906+40, marked by a raging storm near one of its poles. Scientists discovered it using NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes. The location of the storm is estimated to be near the north pole of the star based on computer models of the data. The telescopes cannot see the storm itself, but learned of its presence after observing how the star's light changes over time. The storm travels around with the star, making a full lap about every 9 hours. When it passes into a telescope's field of view, it causes light of particular infrared and visible wavelengths to dip in brightness. The storm has persisted for at least two years. The star, W1906+40, belongs to a thermally cool class of objects called L-dwarfs. It is thought to be a star based on estimates of its age (the older the L-dwarf, the more likely it is a star). Its temperature is about 2, 200 Kelvin. W1906+40 is located 53 light-years away in the |