KIC 8462852 (Tabby's Star) Faded Throughout the Kepler Mission

[Urwumpe]

Could be gone in 50 years then?

I would have said no, if it is about another star.

 

[Enjo]

From article:

“It’s a big challenge to come up with a good natural explanation for a star doing three different things that have never been seen before,” Montet said. “But these observations will provide an important clue to solving the mystery of KIC 8462852.”

 

[Ripley]

Because 2% is a lot in just four years...

Mind you:

The authors find the star’s brightness slowly decreased over time until early 2012, when it rapidly dimmed in brightness by 2 percent over six months.

 

[Urwumpe]

And another one here: The Greenbank observatory will observe the star for three times, each hours each observation session, during the next months.

http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/10/25...earch-for-intelligent-life-around-weird-star/

 

[Kyle]

KIC 8462852 has another dimming event

Tabby's star appears to be dipping again today! This is the first major dip since the Kepler mission.

[ame="https://twitter.com/tsboyajian/status/865542587087601665"]Tabetha Boyajian on Twitter: "@ajebson @NASAKepler @LCO_Global @keckobservatory @AAVSO @nexssinfo @NASA @NASAHubble @Astro_Wright @BerkeleySETI @ESO its 2% in r' band and looks like its the start https://t.co/TjJdSY2ar9"[/ame]

 

[boogabooga]

It seems that Dr. Boyajian predicted this last year:

http://www.wherestheflux.com/single-post/2016/06/09/What-will-happen-in-May-of-2017

 

[Kyle]

It seems that Dr. Boyajian predicted this last year:

http://www.wherestheflux.com/single-post/2016/06/09/What-will-happen-in-May-of-2017

Yup, pretty telling if so, as it would seem to suggest it's associated with something orbiting the star.

I watched Dr. Wright's video update of today's events and he presented a pretty interesting model that connects the long term dimming with the short term dimming. The model suggests that the long term dimming could be as a result of the star releasing energy after consuming a planet, and the short term dimming could be the result of material leftover from that event in an elliptical orbit, which results in the extreme, short term dimming we're seeing.

 

[jedidia]

It seems that Dr. Boyajian predicted this last year:

After the first two observations, they were working under the assumption that the pattern was regular. They missed the last measurement, and waited for the interval to recur to confirm that assumption. I knew that the measurement was coming up this month, but forgot about it.

So they were ready this time, and the dip indeed occured. That's pretty much confirmation that it is a regular occurence, then. Let's wait if the new data can bring any further clues as to what might be causing it.

Darn, I wanted to post a video that had a really nice summary of tabby's stars history, but I can't find it anymore.

 

[boogabooga]

I think we are starting to move further away from "I don't know, therefore aliens" though.

 

[Kyle]

Dip is ongoing.

Jason Wright on Twitter: "@astronomeara @nbatalha Just emailed you. Yes! Latest photometry shows this event is complex and continuing.
thanks!
@tsboyajian"

I think we are starting to move further away from "I don't know, therefore aliens" though.

Not so, so far no possible explanation has been ruled out. The latest Astronomers Telegram though with a spectral analysis of the star showed no difference in the star's absorption spectrum, at least in H-alpha and Calcium triplet regions, when compared with a reference date of July 4, 2016 (a date where the star's brightness was considered steady). More detailed spectral analysis is needed though and interstellar dust is still a possibility (dust will reveal itself through more dimming at shorter wavelengths, so UV, and so far we haven't seen any data on that released to the public). However, if the dip is achromatic (the same on all channels) then all bets will be off.

---------- Post added at 04:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:19 PM ----------

Friday's dip is a near perfect match for a previous dip recorded by Kepler.

 

[Urwumpe]

And a new hypothesis appeared that fits the data much better and is much more fascinating than any alien megastructure:

A ringed gas giant, shading the star with its ring.

https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.04600

 

[perseus]

Oh, how beautiful and exotic it would have been, lol

 

[Notebook]

Just for info.

From the SETI@Home project:

SETI@home: Data from "Tabby's Star" is flowing.
For those who didn't recognize the name KIC8462852 in their work unit names, this data comes from GBT observations of Tabby's Star (aka Boyajian's Star, aka WTF-0001, aka the Weirdest star in the galaxy). This is not yet the full data set, which lives at Penn State, it's some test on-target/off-target observations that we're checking out.