The merged and improved (?) KIC 8462852 thread

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure?

I was reading that fusion does not create flux.

Source please -- that's complete nonsense according to well-established theories of stellar physics.

Tabby's Star is said to not produce any flux.

Also not true -- look at the graphs from KST to which you linked. The flux diminishes for a few days and then returns to its previous level.

Perhaps something took place that caused KIC to stop being a fission / fusion star and is now only a fusion start due to the lack of flux present.

KIC is probably most likely a fusion star now.

There is no such thing as a fission star apart from supernovae, where photo disintegration and photofission can occur. Tabby's star is definitely not a supernova.

Another idea is based on the processes within stars is that a layer of the KIC collapsed inwards towards its cord causing the dim to occur.

Actually, the thought that we have observed a previously unknown type of instability in a star that is near the end of its time on the main sequence is not unreasonable. We don't know how old it is.

Having the flu is like being a Super Nova. At first you lose a lot of energy but then suddenly you blow the outer layers away and are ready to produce more.

As I've said before, Tabby's star is not massive enough to explode as a supernova.

It's also not yet entered the red-giant phase. When it does, it will eventually shed its outer layers as a planetary nebula before ending up as a white dwarf.

 

[Dryson]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure?

I was also thinking that what could have caused the diminishes could have been related to a planet that was blown into pieces by an asteroid impact.

The first reading was a compact reading but two years later, approximately the same orbit of Mars but a little further, the data read as various diminishes of light. Maybe the asteroid impacted the planet break it into smaller chunks on the second recording two years after the first one and because of the impact the planet was sent into KIC in spiraling orbit when the planet passed on the opposite side of KIC.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure?

We really do need a data set gathered over a longer time period - perhaps 10 years at a minimum- to nail down what's happening here with more certainty. Everybody's pretty much going to be scratching their heads in puzzlement until then. It's very weird.

 

[Dryson]

What process would cause a star to swell and shrink - KIC

After reading some information about star KIC I came across the possibility that KIC may have shrunk and the swelled in size up to 22% at times.

If a star would shrink 22% and then swell again due to possibly shedding its outer surface for some reason wouldn't the shedding of the outer surface leave behind a corona of matter ?

Its also been theorized by other astronomers that KIC might be part of a multi star system like KIC 411. If that were true then Kepler would be able to be pointed at KIC 411 to view the same occurance.

 

[B.J.]

Re: What process would cause a star to swell and shrink - KIC

Got some sources?

 

[{ Emilia }]

Re: What process would cause a star to swell and shrink - KIC

NASA says the star was likely swarmed by comets.

Source: Strange Star Likely Swarmed by Comets

A star called KIC 8462852 has been in the news recently for unexplained and bizarre behavior. NASA's Kepler mission had monitored the star for four years, observing two unusual incidents, in 2011 and 2013, when the star's light dimmed in dramatic, never-before-seen ways. Something had passed in front of the star and blocked its light, but what?

Scientists first reported the findings in September, suggesting a family of comets as the most likely explanation. Other cited causes included fragments of planets and asteroids.

A new study using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope addresses the mystery, finding more evidence for the scenario involving a swarm of comets. The study, led by Massimo Marengo of Iowa State University, Ames, is accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

 

[sojourner]

Re: What process would cause a star to swell and shrink - KIC

Why does Dryson keep making new threads about the same topic?

 

[{ Emilia }]

Re: What process would cause a star to swell and shrink - KIC

Why does Sojourner keep trying to mini-mod?

 

[sojourner]

Re: What process would cause a star to swell and shrink - KIC

Dryson drives me to it.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure? (now featuring comet

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure? (now featuring comet

The comets explanation seems the most probable so far although I imagine it would require the cometary tails to be quite opaque. Cometary tails are usually between 10^5 and 10^6 km long and about 4000 km wide at most. I guess observations at a number of different wavelengths could be used to test the hypothesis. Halley's comet is known to have transited the Sun as seen from Earth in 1910 but I don't know how effective it was at blocking light. I suspect not very effective as I've never seen any picture of the event. Cometary nuclei are usually no larger than a few tens of kilometres so the nucleus would block hardly any light. Cometary tails are usually very tenuous, consisting of ice and dust particles around 1 micron in size, but I don't have any data on their opacity.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure? (now featuring comet

With the amount of light that was blocked from the main star, it's also likely that there was a super-massive un-ignited gas giant in orbit, large enough to eclipse it.

 

[PurpleBuddha]

Re: What process would cause a star to swell and shrink - KIC

NASA says the star was likely swarmed by comets.

I wish I could see a picture of this! I bet it would be breathtaking.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure? (now featuring comet

With the amount of light that was blocked from the main star, it's also likely that there was a super-massive un-ignited gas giant in orbit, large enough to eclipse it.

The observed time series isn't characteristic of transiting spherical bodies with diameters smaller than the star's.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure? (now featuring comet

Ah... Gotcha. Well, then, yes, a comet swarm seems to be the most likely culprit, in the absence of any other pertinent data.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure? (now featuring comet

Yes, the original paper about the phenomenon went through a host of possibilities and came to that conclusion, although it has its own problems. It needs a lot more research.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure? (now featuring comet

And another supersized planet found

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-...uperearth-terrestrial-planet-wolf1061/7033824

 

[Dryson]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure? (now featuring comet

Yes, the original paper about the phenomenon went through a host of possibilities and came to that conclusion, although it has its own problems. It needs a lot more research.

And just where would a swarm of comets able to dim the light of KIC by 22% and 15% come from?

That amount of volume is enormous considering Jupiter only causes a dim in our Sun of 1% when it passes across the Sun.

Could we increase the diameter of Jupiter by 21% to get an approximate size of the so called comet swarm?

 

[Dryson]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure? (now featuring comet

And another supersized planet found

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-...uperearth-terrestrial-planet-wolf1061/7033824

The nearest planet orbits the star every five days and is about 1.4 times the mass of the Earth.

Wow it only takes five days for the planet to orbit its Sun. I would think that the planets orbit is too fast to allow for seasonal change. The seasons would be rapid that life wouldn't have time evolve resistences.

Within a months time in Wolf 1061c you have aged six years based on a comparision to Earth. In a years time compared to Earth a one year old would be 72 years old on 1061c.

At age 30 on Earth you would be 2,160 years old on 1061c.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Re: Has Kepler Discovered An Alien Megastructure? (now featuring comet

And another supersized planet found

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-...uperearth-terrestrial-planet-wolf1061/7033824

The nearest planet orbits the star every five days and is about 1.4 times the mass of the Earth.

Wow it only takes five days for the planet to orbit its Sun. I would think that the planets orbit is too fast to allow for seasonal change. The seasons would be rapid that life wouldn't have time evolve resistences.

Within a months time in Wolf 1061c you have aged six years based on a comparision to Earth. In a years time compared to Earth a one year old would be 72 years old on 1061c.

At age 30 on Earth you would be 2,160 years old on 1061c.

That would be rather disturbing