Tabby's Star (TYC 3162-665-1) with NGC 6866

on Sunday, September 4, 2016

Tabby's Star, designated TYC 3162-665-1 and KIC8462852, is an F-type main sequence star in Cygnus. It is a dim, reddish, mag 11 star located in the upper center of the image (annotated on all copies). One of the stars observed by the Kepler exoplanet mission, it is notable for very irregular fluctuations in intensity. It is named for Tabetha Boyajian, the Yale astronomer who's is the lead author on the paper that first noticed the unique star (http://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.03622.pdf). There has been some speculation that the strange, irregular dimming could be explained by a partial Dyson sphere created by an alien civilization on a planet orbiting the star. Evidence was compelling enough that SETI took a look, but didn't find anything interesting (http://www.seti.org/seti-institute/press-release/looking-deliberate-radio-signals-kic-8462852). The anomaly is more likely a combination of natural effects. Still, it's a strange and interesting mystery for science. Phil Plait has done several articles on the star. Here is the most recent: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/08/10/tabby_s_star_faded_significantly_over_three_years.html. Also, if you'd like to follow the developments from Dr Boyajian and her team, they regularly update http://www.wherestheflux.com/.

In the upper left is mag 7 open cluster NGC 6866. It was discovered by Caroline Herschel, sister of the famous William, on July 23, 1783.

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