KIC 8462852, the Boyajian star, is one of the most mysterious objects of this type in the entire Milky Way Galaxy, as there are millions of them. It is located 1,480 light-years away and was discovered in 2015. Since then, some researchers have been staying up at night as they try to unravel the mystery of its anomalies.
KIC 8462852 is an object exhibiting strange behavior. Scientists have been watching here since the beginning Short-term brightness fluctuations and long-term variations, which goes beyond previous knowledge about stars. She can Up to 22% darker. Relative to typical brightness.
Theoretically, one might be tempted to say that the decrease in brightness might be caused by exoplanets orbiting there, covering the object for a moment. But this is not the case, and the answer to the puzzle lies elsewhere. This is due to the fact that the mentioned darkenings are very irregular and no specific pattern can be found here.
“KIC 8462852 exhibits an unusual light curve, showing both deep dips in light and long-term changes. We proposed to observe this object in the wavelength range from 1.7 to 25 microns to measure the thermal emission from the material surrounding the star causing the observed changes in the light curve.” – We read in the proposal of the team led by astronomer Massimo Stiavelli from the Scientific Space Telescope Institute (STScI).
The research was divided into two stages. Scientists want to take a closer look at stellar spectra and develop new patterns. In addition, the surrounding dust and its temperature will be examined in more detail, which will allow a better understanding of the nature of this object.
It is worth noting that KIC 8462852 is not the only star showing a strange drop in brightness. The most famous object of this type, which also has similar anomalies, is Betelgeuse. It is a huge star and one of the brightest stars in our sky. The red giant has a mass of about 15-20 suns. It suggests that the star will soon expire as a supernova, with an absolutely spectacular explosion.
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