The Most Mysterious Star in the Galaxy

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burton449

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Message 1828987 - Posted: 7 Nov 2016, 17:08:54 UTC

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Message 1829014 - Posted: 7 Nov 2016, 18:48:56 UTC

Maybe Hoyle's Black Cloud is orbiting Tabby's star.
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Message 1830560 - Posted: 14 Nov 2016, 17:40:27 UTC - in response to Message 1829014.  

Question... has anyone thought that...

The Tabby Star could be just unstable. What i mean by this is, the star could be going through a state of flux. Where it's in a cycle of changing with an VERY long cycle, where it get dimmer and brighter.

just an idea.
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Michael Watson

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Message 1830636 - Posted: 15 Nov 2016, 1:00:18 UTC

It's been readily identified as an otherwise very ordinary-looking F type main sequence star. We have many, many examples to convince us that such stars are quite steady in their light output. The Kepler Space Telescope looked at such stars, seeking very small variations in light output that would indicate planets crossing in front of them. Dips in light output of over one percent were not expected.
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Message 1832529 - Posted: 26 Nov 2016, 1:43:52 UTC - in response to Message 1830636.  


Strange star has E.T. seekers looking closely for signs of life


Berkeley astronomers on a new hunt for E.T. are aiming one of the world’s most powerful radio telescopes at the most bizarre star ever detected.

They have tuned the big telescope at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia to listen for signals from an object in space called Tabby’s Star, whose implausible behavior is puzzling astronomers all over the world.

That star might conceivably be a sign that some civilization far more advanced than our own is, or has been, building some kind of giant structure far off in the Milky Way, they say.

The Berkeley team has also mobilized a second huge telescope in Australia to search for E.T. signals from another unique star — the closest of all the stars to Earth, just a few trillion miles away.

Enjoy the read.
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Tom Mazanec

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Message 1834363 - Posted: 5 Dec 2016, 21:33:09 UTC

Starlifting could explain light curves
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1611.08368v1.pdf
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Profile William Rothamel
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Message 1834631 - Posted: 7 Dec 2016, 14:58:35 UTC
Last modified: 7 Dec 2016, 14:59:26 UTC

Berkeley astronomers on a new hunt for E.T. are aiming one of the world’s most powerful radio telescopes at the most bizarre star ever detected.


Great idea. What did they find ? What did they expect to find from 1500 light years away?
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Message 1834709 - Posted: 7 Dec 2016, 22:51:32 UTC - in response to Message 1834631.  

The Tabby's Star may be dimming because an alien civilization is mining energy from its surface, a study has recently suggested. Don't think so.
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Michael Watson

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Message 1836801 - Posted: 18 Dec 2016, 16:36:09 UTC
Last modified: 18 Dec 2016, 16:48:32 UTC

The Allen Telescope Array has been used over a number of recent days to monitor KIC 8462852. They have done so repeatedly, and with considerable persistence. Evidently, they still consider Boyajian's Star a highly interesting SETI candidate.

Tomorrow, Monday December 19th, Dr. Jason Wright will again use the 100 meter radio telescope at Green Bank, West Virginia to monitor Boyajian's Star for any intelligent signals, or other artificial radio emissions that may be present. He previously monitored this star on October 26th and 27th, and will do so, yet again, on January 9th.
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Message 1836907 - Posted: 19 Dec 2016, 11:41:37 UTC - in response to Message 1836801.  

Is the implication that somehow things will now be detectable whereas they weren't before?
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Michael Watson

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Message 1836937 - Posted: 19 Dec 2016, 17:22:17 UTC - in response to Message 1836907.  

Yes. If they knew that their continued efforts would end in failure, there would be no justification in making the observations. I would only add the qualification of changing 'will be detected' to 'could be detected'.

This still seems a quite reasonable possibility. A SETI signal or other extraterrestrial, artificial radio emission might very well be intermitant in nature, perhaps a sweeping beacon of communicative intent, or a dynamic space radar system.

Then, too, we may not have listened before at the appropriate combination of frequency, system sensitivity, and signal processing capabilities to detect an existing SETI signal.
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Message 1836939 - Posted: 19 Dec 2016, 17:38:13 UTC

Although I am doubtful about this star system being the home of an intelligent civilization I also hope that sooner or later we will locate one, and that no matter when that is the initial discovery will most likely ambiguous and take a while to confirm. Maybe this is the one.
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Tom Mazanec

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Message 1843039 - Posted: 19 Jan 2017, 15:30:27 UTC

Here are some conversations on this star:
https://www.reddit.com/r/KIC8462852/
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Michael Watson

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Message 1851382 - Posted: 25 Feb 2017, 21:30:11 UTC
Last modified: 25 Feb 2017, 21:52:50 UTC

The scientific goal, with KIC 8462852, has been to observe another dip in its light output, and analyze the spectrum of its light. This will, it is hoped, reveal something of the material that is causing the decline. In brief, a spectrum favoring the red will hint at dust as the cause, either from debris in orbit of the star, on in the intervening interstellar medium. A dimming throughout the spectrum would hint at larger objects, just maybe megastructures of an advanced civilization.

The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) has been making frequent observations of this star, over the past year. While nothing was made of it at the time, it's just possible that a small dip, about 4 percent of the star's overall brightness, was recorded in the data for the period Nov. 20 through Dec. 8, 2016.

I submit below, for your consideration, a link to the AAVSO brightness chart for those dates. Interestingly, this occurred in only the middle portion of the spectrum (the V band) not in the Red or Blue band, on either side of it. That is an unexpected result in either the case of dust, or larger objects. I have not found mention of a natural astrophysical phenomenon that affects light in just this manner.

I've limited the display to the V band, magnitudes 11.8 through 11.9, and compressed the width of the display, in order to make the decline more obvious.

http://www.aavso.org/lcg/plot?auid=000-BLS-628&starname=KIC%208462852&lastdays=&start=11/20/2016&stop=12/08/2016&obscode=&obscode_symbol=2&obstotals=yes&calendar=calendar&forcetics=&pointsize=1&width=200&height=450&mag1=11.8&mag2=11.9&mean=&vmean=&grid=on&visual=on&r=on&uband=on&iband=on&bband=on&v=on
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Message 1859350 - Posted: 3 Apr 2017, 14:29:12 UTC - in response to Message 1740431.  

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Message 1862089 - Posted: 17 Apr 2017, 20:33:03 UTC

I (as a contributor) have just received a report by Boyagian on KIC 8462852 from Kickstarter.
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Michael Watson

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Message 1868235 - Posted: 19 May 2017, 20:48:06 UTC

Boyajian's star is currently dipping in brightness, about 3% so far, and continuing. Astronomers throughout the world are scrambling to examine than star in as much detail as possible. Any dimming over about 1 % is too much to be explained by an orbiting planet passing in front of the star.
A substantial dipping at this time could support the hypothesis that the largest dips are regular, with a period of between 700 and 800 days.
Spectroscopic analysis of the star's light as it dims may clarify the picture of what is blocking the star's light. Selective dimming, in the Ultraviolet, Blue , and Visual bands could indicate dust. Uniform dimming across the spectrum could signify that a very large solid object, or a group of of such objects are responsible.
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Tom Mazanec

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Message 1868296 - Posted: 20 May 2017, 0:20:28 UTC

Assuming the dimming is caused by a solar energy collecting megastructure, orbiting every 750 days, what Kardashev Level would this imply? I am thinking 1.4...am I right?
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Michael Watson

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Message 1868316 - Posted: 20 May 2017, 1:29:48 UTC

That sounds reasonable to me. They'd be using a substantial portion of the star's energy, but not all of it.

Is this new dip a repeat appearance of one theorized to have appeared twice before, around day 750 and day 1500? As such, it was predicted by Dr. Boyajian to appear again now. If this is the case, the most credible natural explanations for the behavior of this star will apparently be invalidated.

Light-obscuring lumps in the interstellar medium aren't reasonably expected to appear at regular intervals, on a precise line between Boyajian's Star and Earth. Comets with a very short orbital period of about two years seemingly couldn't grow cold enough at any time to explain the observed absence of excess infrared radiation.
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Message 1868346 - Posted: 20 May 2017, 6:22:29 UTC - in response to Message 1868316.  

Here is a link describing what Michael has been talking about.



Finally! The Galaxy’s Most Mysterious Star Is Dipping


Tabby's star, otherwise known as the most mysterious star in the galaxy, is dipping drastically in brightness, giving astronomers an opportunity to figure out what has been causing this star's weird behavior.

Ever since the Kepler space telescope captured a series of random-seeming dips from a certain mysterious star, astronomers and the public alike have been baffled by its behavior. Then, following the end of the main Kepler mission, the star went quiet.

Now, at long last, the star has begun a steep decline in brightness — it’s already 2% dimmer after a single night of observation — and telescopes all over the world are at the ready. For the first time, astronomers are catching Tabby's star in the act, and that means the mystery of what causes the star to dip and dim in brightness may soon be solved.

Watch a live stream from earlier today with Wright and SETI Director Andrew Siemion as they discuss the recent changes and incoming observations:
https://youtu.be/eYpIGZS8nJc
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