This is an update in my continuing coverage of KIC 8462852
or Boyajian's star for March 3, 2017 .
For the back story on this fascinating star, see the other videos on my channel
starting with my first update of April of last year.
Boyajian's star remains as much of a mystery as it has
always been with a host of new natural explanations on the table and the alien
megastructure hypothesis remains unlikely, but is still in the mix.
As I reported earlier this year, one theory regarding the
type of alien megastructure that theoretically could be involved is stellar
lifting, a hypothetical technology that allows a civilization to harvest
materials from their star. Along with this theory came a prediction that on
February 21st or thereabouts, the next dimming event would occur.
I found this prediction interesting, but highly unlikely due
to the alien nature of the theory. That said, it was quite difficult to pin
down exactly what happened on the 21st. There was a good reason for this,
Boyajian's star was behind the sun at this time and therefore quite difficult
to observe on earth and apparently the weather was bad for what ground observation
could be done. As a result, there was no data as would normally be available
through the American Association of Variable Star Observers who are monitoring
this star nightly and plotting what they see in order to catch the next dip.
The star was however under observation by the SWIFT space
craft and the main science team investigating the star led by Dr. Boyajian. On
a German language news site that I cannot pronounce, link in the description
below, members from the team said in an interview that they did not see a dip.
Dr. Heindl notes that SWIFT only observed the star for a few
minutes and may not have caught it, but Dr. Boyajian notes that the dips that
Kepler observed tended to last for several days so it likely would have caught
it. Dr. Heindl's next prediction for a dip consistent with his hypothesis is
February of 2019.
And that brings us to a very different kind of prediction,
this one from Dr. Boyajian's blog, link also in the description below. There
she gives a loose prediction on the next dimming event based on the idea that
if you assume that the two large dimming events that Kepler observed are
related, then the next dimming event could start in a window of several months
before May of this year and several months after. Now, Dr. Boyajian is careful
to caution in the post that it's merely a possibility that the two events were
related and this prediction may not happen at all.
But if it doesn't happen, it would suggest that whatever is
going at the star isn't periodic, at least short term. That might bolster some
of the explanations that involve interstellar dust clouds moving past or irregularities
with the star itself which one theory suggests that it's in the process of calming
down after recently eating a planet.
So there you have it, the predicted February 21st dimming
event does not appear to have happened as far as anyone knows and the mystery
at Boyajian's star continues. It truly is one strange star and no matter if the
explanation is natural, which is far more likely, or alien it's going to be
something rare and interesting regardless.
http://www.grenzwissenschaft-aktuell.de/erwartete-verdunklung-von-kic-8462852-blieb-aus20170303/
http://www.wherestheflux.com/single-post/2016/06/09/What-will-happen-in-May-of-2017
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