Tabby's Star, aka the WTF Star

[Cyborg Girl]

Very weird behavior by an F-type star:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronom ... years.html
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronom ... fling.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_8462852

I'm reminded of something I once read (back in the early 2000s) about a variable star that hid itself in clouds of carbon dust. Something about its fusion processes generated a lot of carbon, which found its way to the outer atmosphere and was belched into space; where it would eventually cool into something a lot like soot, blocking the star's light for a while.

At least that was the hypothesis then, unless I'm misremembering... And IIRC it was a supergiant, and more periodic in its luminousity. But I kind of wonder if you could get similar behavior that was less predictable, if there was something really weird about a star's nuclear "chemistry".

Edit: here we go, I was thinking of Rho Coronae Borealis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_Coronae_Borealis

RCB variables are a known type though, and don't look like Tabby's Star...

[Rommie]

Yeah, this is a fun source of speculation over drinks lately type thing.

The thing is though, it's definitely just a normal, main sequence star (you can tell by its spectra), so stuff like carbon fusion which happens at a much later stage is right out. So because extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and there are no initial indications as yet that there are any strange things with this star's chemistry, I wouldn't count on that being an answer when something like a strange debris disk is still on the table.

That said, I guarantee you there are a ton of people focusing right now researching this thing, it's just research takes time to do!

[SciFiFisher]

It does raise some interesting questions. One factor that *may* support the "it's aliens" hypothesis. The aliens are not broadcasting on a frequency/wave length we can detect. Another possible answer is that even advanced civilizations want to keep a low profile. Of course, dimming your own star in a semi-regular pattern for over 100 years may be contradicting that theory.

I am sure we will decide in a few more years that it's the result of distortion and/or error in our observation tools.

[Swift]

There is a very extensive thread on it over on CQ/BAUT.