Giant white-light flares on fully convective stars occur at high latitudes

In a systematic analysis of fully convective stars observed with TESS, we detected four stars that displayed giant flares that were modulated in brightness by the stars' rapid rotation. The morphology of the modulation allowed us to directly localize these flares between 55° and 81° latitude on the stellar surface,  far higher than typical solar flare latitudes. 

These findings are a. evidence that strong magnetic fields tend to emerge close to the stellar rotational poles for fully convective stars, and b. suggest that the impact of flares on the habitability of exoplanets around small stars could be weaker than previously thought.