A star called KIC 8462852, but better known as “Tabby’s star” does not cease to surprise the scientific community, because if this star located in the constellation of Cygnus (the Swan) represents a mystery, now a new The study by astronomers Josh Simon of Carnegie Mellon University and Ben Montet of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) brings to the table strange new behaviors in the star, further increasing its enigma.
In 2015 a team of astronomers announced that the star had experienced a series of brief dimming events, not periodic but random, while it was being monitored by NASA’s Kepler space telescope, and no one knew what caused them. The researchers analyzed more Kepler observations of the puzzling star and showed that in addition to the rapidly unexplained changes in brightness , the star has also slowly and steadily darkened over the four years Kepler has been observing it.
What is the cause of the fluctuation in its brightness, brief but intense?
The erratic pattern of the abrupt fading and recovery of brightness in KIC 8462852 is different from that observed in any other star. It does not fit the theoretical model.
What is the cause of the continuous and constant darkening?
The star’s brightness has gradually decreased to 14% from 1890 to 1989. The experts decided to delve into the Kepler data by investigating its behavior in a series of calibration images that until now had not been used for scientific measurements.
” We thought these data could confirm or disprove the long-term fading of the star, and clarify what was causing the dimming events observed at KIC 8462852,” says Simon.
“ The constant brightness change on KIC 8462852 is quite amazing. Our high-precision measurements over more than four years show that the star actually gets weaker over time. This is unprecedented and we don’t see anything quite like it in the Kepler data, ”explains Montet.
It is clear that it is a completely unique star : “It is a great challenge to come up with a good explanation for a star that does up to three different things that have never been seen before. However, these observations will provide an important clue to solve the mystery ”, concludes Montet.
The study has been published in The Astrophysical Journal.
