US astronomers’ team led by Greek-American John Gizis have discovered a star with a giant, cloudy ongoing storm which takes place every nine hours. The star referred to as W1906+40 is estimated to be about 53-light-years away from Earth.
“The star is the size of Jupiter, and its storm is the size of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot,” said John Gizis of the University of Delaware, Newark. “We know this newfound storm has lasted at least two years, and probably longer.” Gizis is the lead author of a new study appearing in The Astrophysical Journal.
“While planets have been known to have cloudy storms, this is the best evidence yet for a star that has one.” NASA states.
The storm was discovered with the help of two NASA telescopes, the Spitzer and the Kepler and according to the scientists the storm lasts for at least two years. As professor Gizis stated, it is not known yet why the storm lasts that long.
The reason the tumultuous conditions are possible is because the comparatively cool temperature (for stars) of around 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit enables the formation of clouds.
According to USA Today, “Astronomers believe the rain in these storms, like the clouds themselves, is made of hot sand, molten iron or salts.”