Astronomers have recorded until the inexplicable sharp drop in the luminosity of a star EPIC 204376071, which lasted for an amazingly long time – one earth day.
The most famous star in our galaxy, KIC 8462852, also known as Tabby Star, gained its fame in 2015 due to sporadic brightness dips that reached 22 percent. At the moment, scientists have put forward a huge variety of potential explanations for her strange behavior. Some say that this is due to the internal dynamics of the star, others that it is surrounded by a swarm of comets and asteroids and a planet with a huge ring system rotates in its orbit.
We report fixing a deep dip in luminosity of EPIC 204376071, located just 440 light years from us. The star suddenly faded, and then slowly returned to its original state. An analysis of the Kerpler telescope data did not reveal repeated events during 160 days of observations.
There are those who are trying to find a connection between the dips in brightness and the orbital megastructure, the so-called Dyson sphere, created by the super-developed alien civilization, although recent research has minimized this possibility.
But EPIC 204376071 even surpassed Tabby Star. She very quickly faded by 80 percent, and then gradually restored its luminosity.
The star of EPIC 204376071 is a red dwarf age of about 10 million years, which is 9 times lighter than the Sun and 40 percent less than it. It has a great flare activity, but otherwise it is an unremarkable star of its class. If it were not for its asymmetrical failure, which had not previously been observed in other objects, no one would have noticed EPIC 204376071.
Now astronomers have a few ideas that could explain what they saw an event, but they all have flaws. The first is the existence in planet EPIC 204376071 of a planet or a brown dwarf with giant rings, since the simulation of a similar system shows similar to the observed light curve. But, since the failure in 160 days was recorded only once, the satellite must have a period of not less than 80 days, and in the simulation, which allowed to achieve coincidence with the data, the companion makes one revolution in 28 days at a distance of 0.1 astronomical unit.
Another potential explanation comes down to the existence of a specific uneven dust cloud, which is denser on one side and thinner on the other, passing between EPIC 204376071 and the Earth at the time of the observations. According to researchers, this is an unlikely scenario, but not impossible. In addition, the simulated light curve does not quite coincide with the observed one.
To understand the riddle of EPIC 204376071, the researchers note, will help measure the radial velocities of the star, which allows to detect the presence of a large object in its orbit. In addition, optical observations are also not devoid of meaning, since the scattering of light can indicate the existence of a dusty structure. But, while we are waiting for new data, EPIC 204376071 will remain another mysterious star of the Milky Way.
EPIC 204376071 star, with inexplicable sharp drop in the luminosity
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