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from the just-needs-a-bit-of-swiffering dept.
Tabby's star, aka KIC 8462852, is likely surrounded by orbiting dust grains that block ultraviolet light:
The bizarre long-term dimming of Tabby's star—also known as Boyajian's star, or, more formally, KIC 8462852—is likely caused by dust, not a giant network of solar panels or any other "megastructure" built by advanced aliens, a new study suggests.
Astronomers came to this conclusion after noticing that this dimming was more pronounced in ultraviolet (UV) than infrared light. Any object bigger than a dust grain would cause uniform dimming across all wavelengths, study team members said.
"This pretty much rules out the alien megastructure theory, as that could not explain the wavelength-dependent dimming," lead author Huan Meng of the University of Arizona said in a statement. "We suspect, instead, there is a cloud of dust orbiting the star with a roughly 700-day orbital period."
Aliens left to roam free once again.
Previously: Tabby's Star Under Observation After Dimming Event Detected
Tabby's Star Dimming Could be Explained by a Saturn-Like Exoplanet
Extinction and the Dimming of KIC 8462852 (DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aa899c) (DX) (arXiv)
(Score: 5, Interesting) by PinkyGigglebrain on Friday October 06 2017, @10:34PM
isn't UV the ideal spectrum range for solar cells? High energy, readily knocks electrons loose from atoms and is abundant in the light output of most main sequence stars.
And even the article mentions that dust doesn't explain all the other weird stuff they have observed.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."