Variable stars have been known to astronomers for a long time . For some , their lightheaded change because of internal processes . OtherS have companions that overshadow them . But as the number of stars we ’ve studied in detail has expanded , so has the number of odd ones out .
A few years ago , KIC 8462852 or Boyajian ’s star ( also sleep with as Tabby ’s star)jumped into the spotlight . Its dips in light could n’t be ( and still are n’t ) explained and the democratic press jumped onpassing remarksmade by its discoverer Dr Tabetha Boyajian and other experts , focalize on the theory that it might be harboring analien megastructure . While that was n’t the case , researcher have kept studying it to function out what ’s actually behind the rummy behavior .
Now a new star is also showing some uneven light discharge . know as VVV - WIT-07 , the virtuoso is a variable object in the plane of the Milky Way . It has feel several angle of dip in luminosity and a striking eclipse event in July 2012 . An international team of astronomers has proposed several scenario to explain what they have seen . The object may be extremely unseasoned and its lighter could be change wildly . Or , it might be a well - established chief sequence wizard with large bodies overshadow it .
The team also put frontwards the thought that it could be aMamajek ’s aim , or top-notch - Saturn , an exoplanet with an extremely tumid disk ( named after its artificer Eric Mamajek ) . And last but not least it could be another Boyajian ’s whiz . The Milky Way surely has space for more than one highly orphic adept .
“ At present , with the information at hand , none of the propose scenarios can be conclusively established . In any casing , all of these possibilities are interesting in their own right field , ” the research worker wrote in their paper , published in theMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
While similarity with Boyajian ’s headliner are obvious , the weak change in VVV - WIT-07 are more dramatic . Tabby ’s star had a dip in light that at its high was 22 percent . The July 2012 occultation for this Modern star blocked 80 percent of the lightness . By equivalence , transiting planet tend to hinder a very broken percentage of a star topology ’s light when they move in front of it .
The mystery of VVV - WIT-07 will only be solved with more observations . The squad suggests that if the whiz is orbit by something it could have a period of 170 or 322 days , so astronomers may spot something if they observe it at the right time .
The team also show out that as the sight that collected the data was n’t actually look for an aim such as this , it ’s potential new surveys will find even more of these oddball hiding in homely pot around the galaxy .
