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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.
