Astronomers are facing one of the most intriguing star puzzles in contemporary space research. A distant star has been displaying unusual dimming phenomena that do not correspond to the usual expectations of star activity. This star puzzle has intrigued scientists worldwide, with lively speculations over possible causes that might lead to such star brightness variability.
Tabby’s Star’s variability has reached record levels globally
The star has been nicknamed Tabby’s Star and has the official name KIC 8462852. The star has attracted widespread scientific interest since it was discovered in 2015 by Louisiana State University astrophysicist Tabetha Boyajian. The star shows unusual dimming patterns that fluctuate from 1% to 22% brightness changes that take days to weeks before reverting to normal levels.
The star does not conform to normal models that express predictable light variations corresponding to stars with similar characteristics and ages. While normal variable stars display predictable variations in terms of light output that change within set cyclic patterns over time, Tabby’s Star displays purely irregular starlight dimming that seems to happen without discernible pattern. When the starlight data was reviewed over history, there was evidence that there had been a gradual decline in light by 14% between 1890 and 1989.
Exomoon annihilation theory proposed by Columbia University Researchers
A revolutionary new explanation for the unusual activity seen in Tabby’s star has been proposed by a team of astrophysicists from Columbia University led by Brian Metzger, Miguel Martinez, and Nicholas Stone. The team has found that the star’s dimming is caused by debris that has been stripped from an ‘exomoon’ that was captured by the star’s gravity.
The theory has suggested that Tabby’s Star has “abducted” an exomoon from a destroyed star system and placed it in a new orbit, with the intense starlight causing the moon to lose its outer layers. This results in persistent dust clouds and debris disks that opaquely transit between the star and Earth, causing the star to “blink” due to the passage of these disks in front of the starlight.
“The exomoon is like a comet of ice that is evaporating and spewing off these rocks into space,” explained Metzger. “Eventually the exomoon will completely evaporate, but it will take millions of years for the moon to be melted and consumed by the star.”
Debris disk formation explains persistent dimming patterns
The destructive event in the captured exomoon results in two distinct types of matter with differing effects on the brightness of the star. Finer particles are dispersed due to the radiation pressure from the star, causing dimming events, while the bigger particles are caught in orbits to form a debris disk that dims the star over time due to its effect.
Scientific implications reach beyond individual star systems
This study marks a groundbreaking achievement in the understanding of exotic star phenomena and offers potential evidence of the existence of exomoons within our universe. The theoretical concept reveals that lunar systems might be ubiquitous within exoplanetary environments and provide astronomers with a novel means to identify such notoriously difficult-to-detect celestial entities through the signature of destructive phenomena.
Martinez was quick to highlight that no other model has successfully explained how the original planet was driven towards the star, causing these orphaned exomoons with just the right orbital parameters to be formed to account for the dimming pattern observed in Tabby’s star. These parameters are essential to explain the dimming pattern observed in Tabby’s star.
In terms of implications, this discovery means that other star systems with similar characteristics may be found within the galaxy. Other stars that display similar properties might serve as further evidence that verifies the ‘exomoon annihilation’ explanation and increase understanding about the processes involved in the evolution and destruction of planetary bodies within other solar systems.
