![]() While only a few arcminutes away from the cluster, it is unrelated and closer to the Sun than it is to the star cluster. Tabby's Star is situated south of 31 Cygni, and northeast of the star cluster NGC 6866. Tabby's Star in the constellation Cygnus is roughly halfway between the bright stars Deneb and Delta Cygni as part of the Northern Cross. ( FOV=12.5 × 9.6 minutes of arc, NE at upper-left) Location įinder image: KIC 8462852 (blue square) and nearby stars - stable reference stars are in red circles. In the infrared Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS), the star is identified as 2MASS J20061546+4427248. In the Tycho-2 Catalogue, an enhanced collection of stars catalogued by Hipparcos, the star is known as TYC 3162-665-1. ![]() In the Kepler Input Catalog, a collection of astronomical objects catalogued by the Kepler space telescope, Tabby's Star is known as KIC 8462852. Other designations in various star catalogues have been given to Tabby's Star. The star has also been given the nickname "LGM-2" – a homage to the first pulsar discovered, PSR B1919+21, which was given the nickname " LGM-1" when it was originally theorized to be a transmission from an extraterrestrial civilization. The nickname "WTF Star" is a reference to the paper's subtitle "where's the flux?", which highlights the observed dips in the star's radiative flux. Boyajian, who was the lead author of the scientific paper that announced the discovery of the star's irregular light fluctuations in 2015. The names "Tabby's Star" and "Boyajian's Star" refer to American astronomer Tabetha S. In January 2021, a distant stellar-mass companion was reported, making Tabby's Star a binary stellar system. An overall study of other similar stars has been presented. In September 2019, astronomers reported that the observed dimmings of Tabby's Star may have been produced by fragments resulting from the disruption of an orphaned exomoon. New fluctuations ran from mid-May 2017 until July 2018, assuming their continuance in late-December 2017 to mid-February 2018 when obscured by the Sun. An example of such an object is EPIC 204278916. Tabby's Star is not the only star that has large irregular dimmings, but other such stars include young stellar objects called YSO dippers, which have different dimming patterns. It has also been hypothesized that the changes in brightness could be signs of activity associated with intelligent extraterrestrial life constructing a Dyson swarm however, further analysis based on data through the end of 2017 showed wavelength-dependent dimming consistent with dust but not an opaque object such as an alien megastructure, which would presumably block all wavelengths of light equally. Furthermore, spectroscopic study of the system has found no evidence for coalescing material or hot close-in dust or circumstellar matter from an evaporating or exploding planet within a few astronomical units of the mature central star. Another hypothesis is that a large number of small masses in "tight formation" are orbiting the star. A third hypothesis, based on a lack of observed infrared light, posits a swarm of cold, dusty comet fragments in a highly eccentric orbit however, the notion that disturbed comets from such a cloud could exist in high enough numbers to obscure 22% of the star's observed luminosity has been doubted. In another explanation, the star's luminosity is modulated by changes in the efficiency of heat transport to its photosphere, so no external obscuration is required. One explanation is that an " uneven ring of dust" orbits Tabby's Star. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the star's large irregular changes in brightness as measured by its light curve, but none to date fully explain all aspects of the curve. ![]() The discovery was made from data collected by the Kepler space telescope, which observed changes in the brightness of distant stars to detect exoplanets. In September 2015, astronomers and citizen scientists associated with the project posted a preprint of an article describing the data and possible interpretations. Unusual light fluctuations of the star, including up to a 22% dimming in brightness, were discovered by citizen scientists as part of the Planet Hunters project. ![]() Tabby's Star (also known as Boyajian's Star and WTF Star, and designated KIC 8462852 in the Kepler Input Catalog) is an F-type main-sequence star in the constellation Cygnus approximately 1,470 light-years (450 parsecs) from Earth. Tabby's Star in infrared (left) and ultraviolet (right) ![]()
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