Kepler may have lost its third Reaction Wheel.
http://www.space.com/32529-nasa-kepler-exoplanet-spacecraft-emergency-mode.html
http://www.albanydailystar.com/science/what-is-kic-8462852-mystery-riverside-tech-time-11651.html
Scientists say that infrared light doesn’t show evidence of two of the leading theories: that planetary impact, or two asteroids colliding into each other, had created debris that is moving in front of the star. If that was the case then the clouds of rock would be hot enough that they would glow in the view of the infrared camera.
But, like WISE, Spitzer did not find any significant excess of infrared light from warm dust. That makes theories of rocky smashups very unlikely, and favors the idea that cold comets are responsible. It’s possible that a family of comets is traveling on a very long, eccentric orbit around the star. At the head of the pack would be a very large comet, which would have blocked the star’s light in 2011, as noted by Kepler. Later, in 2013, the rest of the comet family, a band of varied fragments lagging behind, would have passed in front of the star and again blocked its light.
By the time Spitzer observed the star in 2015, those comets would be farther away, having continued on their long journey around the star. They would not leave any infrared signatures that could be detected.
However, NASA is still not certain this is actually the case and is planning to make more observations.
“We may not know yet what’s going on around this star,” said Massimo Marengo of Iowa State University.
“But that’s what makes it so interesting.”
Kepler Checks out Okay
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/11/tech/...-spacecraft0805PMStoryGalLink&linkId=23329483