Scientists have revealed a megastructure star which captures and consumes a planet. A new study explains that the star might have diminished its light because it engulfed a nearby planet. The brightness of this star recedes by approximately 1%, and scientists have attributed this change to a planet which orbits around it.
- A megastructure star was revealed to dim its light.
- Scientists argue that the decreased level of brightness is due to the fact the star engulfed a planet.
- This celestial event might have happened between about 200 and 10,000 years ago.
Tabby’s star is called KIC 8462852. Scientists are triggered by this particular star due to its dips which can reach 22%. Researchers have thought at a wide range of possible reasons which might explain why this is sometimes blinking from orbiting comets to gigantic extraterrestrial structures. Other scientists who published their new ideas back to December point out that internal stellar dynamics could also be listed as a possibility for the dimming process of the star.
Experts propose a new theory which may be plausible enough to explain why the star has such a weird pattern of brightness. Brian Metzger, a researcher from Columbia University in New York, together with his colleagues believes that this star is simply going back to its natural state after it engulfed a planet.
In a new study which is bound to be published on January 16 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society magazine, researchers have noted that the star may have consumed a planet somewhere between 200 and 10,000 years ago. Scientists argued that a star which destroys a planet may present light fluctuation which is similar with the one noticed in Tabby’s star.
If in the past this star has engulfed a planet, the energy subtracted from that planet might have caused the star to brighten temporarily. After that, the star would dim its light to its natural level of brightness. Due to the meal the star had, KIC 8462852 became shinier, and after the planet was completely consumed, it went back to its natural stage.
Specialists argue that the bigger the planet engulfed, the longer the time span of brightness would be. When the planet fell into the gravity field of the star, its moons may have been stripped away too, falling into the sun. This celestial event left behind clouds of detritus which orbit the star. When the clouds of debris interfere between the star and us, the starlight would be blocked, and it may appear as if blinking.
Image source: wikipedia
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