KIC 8462852 Observations |
KIC 8462852 Observations |
Oct 15 2015, 04:45 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
Kepler found one very, very strange case:
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive...-galaxy/410023/ In a nutshell, while Kepler was observing it, the star (larger and brighter than the Sun) exhibited four dimming events that took place at irregular intervals, blocked a lot more light than a Jupiter-sized planet would block, and had a "shape" that varied in all four cases and did not resemble a planet. This case is attracting some wild speculation… in fact, it is seemingly certain that something wild must be going on; it's just a matter of which wild scenario is the correct one. If I had to throw my hat in the ring, I'd guess that a distant collision and breakup has placed big swarms of matter into a very long-period orbit. But there's no hypothesis that's been offered that doesn't seem problematic. |
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Oct 16 2015, 02:43 PM
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#2
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 98 Joined: 24-November 04 Member No.: 111 |
We need to account for a few facts here (see the paper for many more):
Eclipses at least 22% obscuration of the KIC 8462852 star There are multiple large eclipsing objects, and each object must have orbital periods at least several years (because no periodicity was noted within the observational span, which means none of them repeated exactly, at least none repeated with the same obscuration). Some of the large objects look 'grouped' in their obscuration, in the sense that the eclipses occurred in very close time proximity. There is also a small object which orbits with a 20d period. There is a 0.88d cycle is likely a starspot, which assume the star revolves around its axis a fast 0.88d. Infrared data doesn't support collisions or even comets. My speculation which doesn't involve alien constructs or other woo hypotheses: The star has several exoplanets which orbit it at various distances with periods of many years, so each exoplanet may have only been observed once in the data set. Some of the exoplanets are ringed systems with very opaque rings tilted out of the ecliptic with no noticeable ring gaps. The exoplanet at 793d with the 22% obscuration has a HUGE dense ring system that is inclined such that it can eclipse 22% of the star's illumination as see from earth. Some of the exoplanets have very large exomoons orbiting them. (this accounts for the secondary obscurations observed in close time proximity to the major obscurations, for example in the data between 1500-1600 days). Maybe the large exoplanet at 793d and 1520d is the same exoplanet, just the ring angle changed, and at 1519d an exomoon was observed with it. |
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