Because of its bizarre dimming, Tabby’s is seen as one of the strangest stars in the galaxy.
Astronomers have been very busy over the weekend after a team of specialists noted that one of the strangest stars in the galaxy is once again at work. Tabby’s star is the reason behind all this hassle as it is once again inexplicably and bizarrely dimming its light.
Tabby’s is officially known as KIC 8462858 but is also commonly called “Boyaijan’s star”. This cosmic body started raising questions as scientists noted its unusual pattern of inconsistent dimming and brightening. These have led to the emergence of many hypotheses. They range from comets, moons, to its being an alien megastructure.
Now, scientists are once again turning their attention to Tabby’s star following an urgent call. On May 19th, specialists asked as many people to turn their telescopes towards the sky in the hopes of gathering data on “Boyaijan’s star”.
One of the Strangest Stars is Dimming Once Again
The scientists to issue this call are hoping that thanks to the great number of telescopes trained towards the sky, they will manage to finally crack Tabby’s mystery.
“At about 4 a.m. this morning [May 19] I got a phone call … that Fairborn [Observatory] in Arizona had confirmed that the star was 3 percent dimmer than it normally is,” said Jason Wright.
He is an associate professor part of the Pennsylvania State University and manager of one of the studies on Tabby’s star. Wright took part in a live webcast on the matter.
He stated that this percentage confirms that the perceived dimming is not a statistical fluke. This also means that specialists have the chance to study the live dimming pattern of the star. Tabetha Boyajian, for whom the star is nicknamed, and her team, were the first to note these cycles back in September 2015.
Initially, scientists were expecting a regular series of brightening and dimming. This would be consistent with the star having a moon or being passed by a swarm of comets.
But Tabby’s changes are in line with neither. So scientists started taking greater attention to the cosmic body. Still, they were unable to predict the duration or appearance of the next dimming. So this latest pattern of dimming is a new chance at studying Boyajian’s.
It will offer scientists fresh new data on the matter, and more information than before. However, most point out that it will still take some time before an exact cause will be established.
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