This extremely dim celestial object is one of the closest known
solitary brown dwarfs to Sol at present. It is located about 16.3
light-years away in the eastern part of Constellation Fornax, the
Furnace, in the southern hemisphere. Previously thought to be a
very dim red dwarf star (M9.0 V) on its detection more than 25
years ago, Luyten Palomar (LP) 944-20 was detemined to be a brown
dwarf in 1998 when Chris G. Tinney found that it was too cool to
destroy all of the lithium in its atmosphere.
LP 944-20 appears to be only about 475 to 650 million years old
but may be around 320 million years old if it is a member of the
Castor moving group (an extensive but physically related group of
more than 50 stars, including Castor itself, Vega, Formalhaut,
Alderamin, and Zubenelgenubi, that has a common motion through
space; the properties of the group suggest an age for its members
to be on the order of 300 or so million years).
Astronomers did not anticipate that a brown dwarf could flare
like a true star that sustains nuclear fusion at its core. That is,
until on December 15, 1999, when LP 944-20 was observed -- by the
Chandra X-Ray Observatory -- to emit a small solar-sized flare,
which lasted for two hours and is thought to be very similar to the
flares seen on our Sun. This suggested to astronomers that brown
dwarfs have significant magnetic fields in order to generate these
flares.
In early 2001, a group of astronomers announced the discovery of
quiescent and flaring radio emission from LP 944-20. This
first-ever detection of persistent radio emission from a brown
dwarf was unexpected, and the astronomers concluded that LP 944-20
may be roiled by storms several times more powerful than the most
energetic flares on the Sun. Follow-up observations suggested that
the object's magnetic fields were extremely weak, which is a
surprise because flares are normally powered by the energy in
magnetic fields.
Now go find the cache (and please take care when rehiding it, as
it could slip from its position if not replaced properly). No hints
for you. Let it be a surprise.