A few years ago, a star shocked the world of astronomy. Tobby’s Star, or KIC 8462852, was located using the Kepler Space Telescope, and the star was investigated by Tabetha S. Boyajian. The mystery began in 2011, when scientists from the Planet Hunters project were sorting through data from NASA’s Kepler telescope, which has detected the signals of more than 2,300 planets in its four years of primary observations. Experts concluded that the erratic brightness of the most puzzling star in the sky was not the work of aliens, but of dust.
To catch the star just as it dimmed and get a better look
At the time, Tabetha Boyajian launched a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $100,000. Her goal was to catch the star just as it dimmed and get a better look at what might be blocking its light in real time. When they spotted the star, astronomers couldn’t think of an explanation for what they saw.
NASA and veteran scientists accept natural explanations
The star Cygnus shocked the world and scientists with its mysterious appearance. Tabby’s Star, named after Tabetha Boyajian, has been displaying unusual, unexplained patterns of brightening and dimming. Others exaggerate it with unfounded speculation, while NASA and veteran scientists accept natural explanations in an attempt to eliminate the star’s unpredictable light show.
“I’m glad we still have a good mystery to solve”
For years, this enigmatic star in the Cygnus constellation has confounded astronomers with seemingly random variations in its brightness. New observations suggest the culprit is actually dust, perhaps from the remains of a planet or satellite recently destroyed by the star. “The fact that it turned out to be something boring like dust, as many people say, is what everyone expected. But I’m glad we still have a good mystery to solve,” says Jason Wright of Pennsylvania State University. “We don’t think this has anything to do with aliens, but rather that nature has a way of surprising us.”
Dust is responsible for the dimming and that alien megastructures are definitively ruled out
After many months and four dimming events (named Elsie, Celeste, Scara Brae, and Angkor), the star was no longer visible to telescopes in the northern hemisphere. “It was a bit surreal to see it happen in real time and be able to do what we’d said we wanted to do for years: watch it as it dimmed,” said the researcher. Boyajian and more than 200 collaborators analyzed data spanning more than 22 months and published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters that dust is responsible for the dimming and that alien megastructures are definitively ruled out.
Where is it located?
KIC 8462852 is located closer to our Sun than the star cluster. With an apparent magnitude of 11.7, the star cannot be seen with the naked eye, but is visible with a telescope larger than 130 mm in a dark sky with little light pollution. It has a class M2 companion star with a mass of 0.4M at a separation of two arcseconds; it is unclear whether it is a binary system.
The amplitude of the star’s brightness changes, and the aperiodicity of the changes, mean that this star is of particular interest to astronomers. The star’s brightness changes would be compatible with many small masses orbiting the star in a ‘tight formation’. “Stars just don’t do that,” said Boyajian. Tabby’s Star remains one of the most intriguing enigmas of the dark universe.
