More than 1,000 light-years away from Earth is a star that has been baffling astronomers since it was first observed in data collected by the Kepler mission. It’s largely known as Tabby’s Star, after assistant professor Tabetha Boyajian from the Louisiana State University department of Physics and Astronomy.
For no obvious reason, Tabby’s Star has been dimming and brightening in strange and unpredictable ways. For a few days or a week at a time, it will dim noticeably. And then there’s the fact that it grew fainter over the past century. It’s an F star, which is supposed to maintain constant brightness. So what’s causing the dips?
Probably not an alien megastructure, according to Boyajian. “Dust is most likely the reason,” she said. “The new data shows that different colors of light are being blocked at different intensities. Therefore, whatever is passing between us and the star is not opaque, as would be expected from a planet or a megastructure.”
Even if it’s “just” dust, though … what kind of dust is it? What do you think’s going on?
