If we judge anything by name, it could be a star.
But there is nothing in the behavior of KIC 8462852 that resembles the rest of their peers.
This star, detected by a citizen science program that helps filter the information sent by the Kepler space telescope, has a strange habit of reducing the intensity of its brightness at irregular intervals.
To get an idea of the uniqueness of this occurrence, suffice it to say that of the 150,000 stars that monitors the telescope, this is the one that behaves in this way.
The temporary reduction of brightness It produces, generally, when a planet passes in front of its star during its orbital path.
And it is this change that allows us to deduce the existence of a planet.
A planet can be detected as it passes in its orbit between the telescope and the sun.
The frequency of these falls are REGULAR which it corresponds to the duration of its orbit.
But in the case of the star in question, observed were completely irregular intervals, both in frequency and intensity.
In 2009, for example, They recorded two small falls, in addition to an asymmetrical collapse of a week in 2011, and a series of several falls for three months in 2013 (some 20%).
From what has been said follows then, the cause of this behavior may not be the presence of a planet
And can not also be, because the intensity of the decrease is very large. Even if it were a planet the size of Jupiter (the largest planet in our solar system), light KIC 8,462,852 be reduced by only 1%.
So how do you explain this?
In search of a plausible explanation
Tabetha Boyajian, an astronomer at Yale University in the United States, an institution that launched the Planet Hunters citizen science in 2010, recently published a study on the possible causes.
The researchers ruled concerned a young star.
But each of them, says the scientist, he has a point weak.
“We rascábamos head … For every idea we could think of, there was always something to argue against,” said Boyajian.
In principle, Boyajian and team ruled out were a flaw in the telescope or data processors.
They also rejected it was a young star, which is still in the process of accumulating mass, and therefore is surrounded by a cloud of dust and rock that could explain the irregularity of its luster.
The most plausible explanation is the presence of exocometas.
The study concludes that the most likely explanation may be in a group of exocometas who approached and broke the star because of gravity, leaving the process huge amounts of dust and gas.
If comets move in an orbit that passes in front of the planet approximately every 700 days, fragments that are still shelling could explain the irregular decrease brightness perceived by Kepler.
The only way to test this theory is more information, but since the telescope stopped working properly in 2013, is more difficult to obtain data.
The most striking hypothesis all
Meanwhile, research continues in another sphere.
Intrigued by the finding, Boyajian shared the results of his study with Jason Wright, a colleague of Pennsylvania State University and member of an organization that investigates exoplanets and habitable worlds.
Your opinion opens the door to other possibilities.
The most unlikely of all scenarios is that which holds that the phenomenon is due to a mega-structures created by aliens.
According to Wright, if none of the above reasons convincing, why not think that the phenomenon could be caused by a number of mega structures equipped with solar panels, built by aliens?
Scientists who believe in the existence of intelligent life or at least the possibility-it outside our planet, argue that advanced alien civilizations most likely be characterized by its ability to obtain energy from its sun and not the exploitation of the resources of his own planet.
Both Boyajian as Wright warn that this hypothesis is very, very remote and should be taken with tongs.
However, they believe it is a valid hypothesis worthy of investigation. And for that, both present a proposal to focus massive radio telescope at the strange star.
If everything is booming, the first observations to be made in January.
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