Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Western Ontario/Stony Brook
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Stormy Stars: Weather Report from Brown Dwarfs - This artist's concept shows what the weather might look like on cool star-like bodies known as brown warfs. These giant balls of gas start out life like stars, but lack the mass to sustain nuclear fusion at their cores, and instead, fade and cool with time.
New research from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope suggests that most brown dwarfs are racked with colossal storms akin to Jupiter's famous "Great Red Spot." These storms may be marked by fierce winds, and possibly lightning. The turbulent clouds might also rain down molten iron, hot sand, or salts -- materials thought to make up the cloud layers of brown dwarfs.