stargazer have find out a lilliputian virtuoso that has a immense storm cloud touch the Great Red Spot of Jupiter . The star , called W1906 + 40 , is an old cubic decimeter - dwarf star that is still very fighting . This determination is the unassailable evidence yet for weather phenomenon on nanus star .
Scientists have been canvass the aura of W1906 + 40 for the last two year , ever since they noticed that the star had a glowering feature on its surface , which has now been confirmed to be a stupendous cloud .
" The star is the size of Jupiter , and its storm is the size of Jupiter ’s Great Red Spot , " said John Gizis , lead author of the study , in astatement . " We experience this newfound tempest has lasted at least two years , and probably longer . ” The composition has been take by the Astrophysical Journal and it ’s available onArXiv .
The gnome was first identify byNASA ’s encompassing - field Infrared Survey Explorerin 2011 , and the dark area was identified by Kepler two years ago . When the feature film was first found , astronomers thought they were looking at a star spot ( correspondent to our Sun ’s macula ) , an area on the surface of the star that is cooler and dingy because of concentrated magnetic field .
This illustration shows a coolheaded asterisk , called W1906 + 40 , marked by a raging violent storm near one of its poles . Image credit : NASA / JPL - Caltech
L - dwarf stars are a bit of a mixed bag of stellar physical object . They are often sort out as dark-brown nanus , objects that were never able-bodied to start nuclear fusion and turn into proper virtuoso . But some 50 - dwarfs were fully fledged star that cooled down over time . W1906 + 40 has a surface temperature of 2,200 Kelvins ( 3,500 ° F , 1,900 ° C ) , which is comparatively nerveless for a star . The low temperature allows for the cloud geological formation , which would otherwise be disrupt by the Department of Energy bring out .
More observations are planned , as there ’s a lot more to understand about the origin of prima swarm . " We do n’t know if this sort of star storm is unequalled or common , and we do n’t why it persist for so long , " concluded Gizis .
