RE: Some fun stuff expected in 2016 in astrophysics...
August 16, 2016 at 10:23 am
(This post was last modified: August 16, 2016 at 11:19 am by Anomalocaris.)
I wasn't think neutron star or white dwarf was an plausible explanation for tabby's star. Just they create the environement that makes it plausible to study planets by the shadows they cast a third object.
In tabby's case, it appear all the solutions depend on some very large semi-cohesive body either casting shadows on other bodies, or blocking light directly. This does not easily explain longer term dimming trend. The sun has a 11 year sunspot cycle. I wonder if the solution to tabby could be some long lasting sunspot cycle lasting a few hundred years that involve enormous sunspots? Or some other intrinsic instability of the star? Is there any Doppler evidence to show the star's surface is pulsating to an unusual degree? Or there are large amount of material being shed from the star's surface? Could this be a star caught in a the act of some short lived, and hence rare to observe, but highly variable phase?
In tabby's case, it appear all the solutions depend on some very large semi-cohesive body either casting shadows on other bodies, or blocking light directly. This does not easily explain longer term dimming trend. The sun has a 11 year sunspot cycle. I wonder if the solution to tabby could be some long lasting sunspot cycle lasting a few hundred years that involve enormous sunspots? Or some other intrinsic instability of the star? Is there any Doppler evidence to show the star's surface is pulsating to an unusual degree? Or there are large amount of material being shed from the star's surface? Could this be a star caught in a the act of some short lived, and hence rare to observe, but highly variable phase?
