An essential feature of the lightning is the electrical breakdown - an insulator (air) becomes a conductor for a while, relatively high current flows in the conducting channel for a short while, then stops. The conducting channel is an insulator again.

This requires

1. insulating (dielectric) media and
2. a means of creating an intense electric fields.

Given enough temperature and/or pressure, everything becomes a conductor. So you need a cool enough star (way cooler than our Sun is). The sun is electrically conductive from its Corona all the way to the center.

Point 2 is easier as the Sun (and with somewhat lesser certainity all other stars that rotate and have convective zone) run some kind of hydromagnetic dynamo . These processes do create spectacular events (magnetic reconnections), but they are not lightnings in the true sense of the word as they happen in an already conducting media.

The cooler brown dwarves, as well as gas giant planets, do have layers of atmosphere that are sufficiently dielectric. Well, no hydromagnetic dynamo in these conditions (it may as well run deep below in the hotter and denser layers, but no ligthnings because of the reasons stated above). Some of upper layers are cool enough to host water and other clouds, giving them the right conditions for separating spatially a great deal of electric charges, just like our thunderstorms do.

Both Jupiter and Saturn are known to host powerful thunderstorms, detectable both in radio waves and in visible light. I see no reason why the same processes can't happen in a brown dwarf, but I am not aware of any scientific research on the matter.

An essential feature of the lightning is the electrical breakdown - an insulator (air) becomes a conductor for a while, relatively high current flows in the conducting channel for a short while, then stops. The conducting channel is an insulator again.

This requires

1. insulating (dielectric) medium and
2. a means of creating an intense electric fields.

Given enough temperature and/or pressure, everything becomes a conductor. So you need a cool enough star (way cooler than our Sun is). The sun is electrically conductive from its Corona all the way to the center.

Point 2 is easier as the Sun (and with somewhat lesser certainity all other stars that rotate and have convective zone) run some kind of hydromagnetic dynamo . These processes do create spectacular events (magnetic reconnections), but they are not lightnings in the true sense of the word as they happen in an already conducting medium.

The cooler brown dwarfs, as well as gas giant planets, do have layers of atmosphere that are sufficiently dielectric. Well, no hydromagnetic dynamo in these conditions (it may as well run deep below in the hotter and denser layers, but no ligthnings because of the reasons stated above). Some of upper layers are cool enough to host water and other clouds, giving them the right conditions for separating spatially a great deal of electric charges, just like our thunderstorms do.

Both Jupiter and Saturn are known to host powerful thunderstorms, detectable both in radio waves and in visible light. I see no reason why the same processes can't happen in a brown dwarf, but I am not aware of any scientific research on the matter.

An essential feature of the lightning is the electrical breakdown - an insulator (air) becomes a conductor for a while, relatively high current flows in the conducting channel for a short while, then stops. The conducting channel is an insulator again.

This requires

1. insulating (dielectric) media and
2. a means of creating an intense electric fields.

Given enough temperature and/or pressure, everything becomes a conductor. So you need a cool enough star (way cooler than our Sun is). The sun is electrically conductive from its Corona all the way to the center.

Point 2 is easier as the Sun (and with somewhat lesser certainity all other stars that rotate and have convective zone) run some kind of hydromagnetic dynamo . These processes do create spectacular events (magnetic reconnections), but they are not lightnings in the true sense of the word as they happen in an already conducting media.

The cooler brown dwarves, as well as gas giant planets, do have layers of atmosphere that are sufficiently dielectric. Well, no hydromagnetic dynamo in these conditions. Some of these layers are cool enough to host water and other clouds, giving them the right conditions for separating spatially a great deal of electric charges, just like our thunderstorms do.

Both Jupiter and Saturn are known to host powerful thunderstorms, detectable both in radio waves and in visible light. I see no reason the same processes can't happen on a brown dwarf, but I am not aware of any scientific research on the matter.

An essential feature of the lightning is the electrical breakdown - an insulator (air) becomes a conductor for a while, relatively high current flows in the conducting channel for a short while, then stops. The conducting channel is an insulator again.

This requires

1. insulating (dielectric) media and
2. a means of creating an intense electric fields.

Given enough temperature and/or pressure, everything becomes a conductor. So you need a cool enough star (way cooler than our Sun is). The sun is electrically conductive from its Corona all the way to the center.

Point 2 is easier as the Sun (and with somewhat lesser certainity all other stars that rotate and have convective zone) run some kind of hydromagnetic dynamo . These processes do create spectacular events (magnetic reconnections), but they are not lightnings in the true sense of the word as they happen in an already conducting media.

The cooler brown dwarves, as well as gas giant planets, do have layers of atmosphere that are sufficiently dielectric. Well, no hydromagnetic dynamo in these conditions (it may as well run deep below in the hotter and denser layers, but no ligthnings because of the reasons stated above). Some of upper layers are cool enough to host water and other clouds, giving them the right conditions for separating spatially a great deal of electric charges, just like our thunderstorms do.

Both Jupiter and Saturn are known to host powerful thunderstorms, detectable both in radio waves and in visible light. I see no reason why the same processes can't happen in a brown dwarf, but I am not aware of any scientific research on the matter.