NASA scientists have been tricked by the mystery star KIC 8462852 over the past few years. The mystery star has reduced two percent of its brightness in just six months.
The bizarre objects get more mysterious - which occasional dimness has increased the curiosity in astronomers. Named after Tabetha Boyajian, KIC 8462852 is unofficially known as "Tabby's Star."
Boyajian is an astronomer from Yale University, who discovered the "Tabby Star's" diminishing light and the flickering signals. He claimed that the signal are due to an alien megastructure.
Planet-hunting Kepler space telescope at NASA showed that KIC 8462852 star has dimmed overall in the last few years. According to Space.com, the steady brightness change in "Tabby's Star" is very astonishing as per the study lead author Ben Montet, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
The NASA Kepler telescope is observing 150,000 stars along with "Tabby's star" from 2009 to 2013. Only "Tabby's Star" showed dimming of light. "
Our highly accurate measurements over four years demonstrate that the star really is getting fainter with time," Montet added. "It is unprecedented for this type of star to slowly fade for years, and we don't see anything else like it in the Kepler data."
According to Carnegie Science, KIC 8462852 was already completely unique because of its sporadic dimming episodes, Simon said in the same statement. Scientists have been observing "Tabby's Star" for three years. Now, though, they see "Tabby's Star" is suddenly getting fainter much more rapidly.
Scientists Monet and Simon are trying to find the reason for "Tabby's Star's" strange behavior. They say it's a big challenge ty's o explain "Tabby's Star."
For one "Tabby's Star" behaves with three different things never known before. These observations will provide an important clue to solving the mystery of "Tabby's Star" KIC 8462852.
