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"A Jupiter-like world orbiting a star 150 light-years away has searing temperatures and winds blasting at speeds up to 10,000 kilometres per hour, according to astronomers. The storm stems from the planet's blindingly close and rotationally synched orbit around its parent star."

Amazing to think of a storm, even on this distant star! All those currents, all those clouds, wow!

The Kepler Mission, NASA Discovery mission #10, is specifically designed to survey a portion of our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover dozens of Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions of stars in our galaxy have such planets. Results from this mission will allow us to place our solar system within the continuum of planetary systems in the Galaxy.

This stunning portrait of the sun spread like hot plasma all over the internet yesterday. Wired.com spoke with artist and astrophotographer Alan Friedman to find out how he made it. Friedman shoots the sky from his backyard in downtown Buffalo, New York. That means the usual celestial candidates - galaxies, nebulae, distant star clusters - are washed out by the glow of the city. But the sun is fair game, as long as the sky is clear and turbulence-free.