kic8462852
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Researchers say aliens aren't causing Tabby’s Star to dim after all
Tabby's Star, also known as KIC 8462852, is quite a mystery. Located about 1,280 light-years from Earth, the star puts on an interesting light show every now and then, dimming and brightening at unpredictable times. While many theories have been put forward as to what could be causing the changes in brightness, -- which can dip by up to 22 percent -- theories that include an alien megastructure, researchers haven't been able to get any solid data to explain the phenomenon. However, Louisiana State University researcher Tabetha Boyajian, who the star is named after, launched a Kickstarter campaign in May of 2016 with the goal of raising funds for a long-term observation of the star. The funds were raised and a new paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters presents the work of over 200 researchers who observed the star from 2015 through last year.
Live look at the 'alien megastructure' star may solve mysteries
Astronomers may have ruled out an alien megastructure as the likely cause behind KIC 8462852's strange dimming, but it's still mysterious -- and that's partly due to the lack of live data (as live as you can get for a star 1,277 light years away, at least). How do you understand what's going on when you have to rely solely on historical info that doesn't even account for the star's spectrum? Thankfully, researchers are getting that big chance: they've caught the star in mid-dimming, and they have numerous telescopes trained on it. If they can record the spectrum before and after the oddball behavior, they may have a better idea of the root cause.
We still don't know why 'alien megastructure' star is dimming
Astronomers' favorite mysterious stellar object, which may or may not be surrounded by an "alien megastructure", remains unexplained. A reason for the flickering light emitted by the star known as KIC 8462852 continues to evade the scientific community. But scientists have taken a closer look at the star's brightness levels, and it's official: the amount of light coming out of it has decreased by three percent over four years. Further, it's only happening to this one sun and none of its neighbors. The plot continues to thicken.
Comets don't explain the strange 'alien megastructure' star
And here we thought that the mystery of the "alien megastructure" star was all sewn up. Researcher Bradley Schaefer has determined that the most plausible explanation for KIC 8462852's unusual dimming, a swarm of comets, doesn't really hold up. You see, historical data shows that the star's light has been fading for at least a century -- comets wouldn't produce that kind of behavior. That theory was never strong in the first place, but these latest findings effectively rule it out.
That star's 'alien megastructure' is likely just a swarm of comets
Occam's Razor apparently holds true everywhere, even in the farthest reaches of space. While researchers speculated that star KIC 8462852's mysterious dimming might be the result of alien megastructures, NASA is about to publish evidence supporting the theory that it's really just a swarm of comets. Based on the strange dimming and the moderate infrared light levels, you may be looking at a pack of cold comets on a "very long, eccentric" orbit. If so, the strange signatures over the years reflect different-size comets passing around the star.
