File:KIC_8462852_in_IR_and_UV.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Tabby’s Star
Sign in to saveAlso known as WTF Star, Where's The Flux? Star, Boyajian's Star
binary system in the constellation Cygnus
Key facts
- Constellation
- Cygnus
- Right ascension
- 20 06 15.45265
- Declination
- +44 ° 27 ′ 24.7909 ″
- Apparent magnitude v
- +11.705 ± 0.017
- Evolutionary stage
- Main sequence
- Spectral type
- F3V
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Part of
- NGC 6866
- Named after
- Tabetha S. Boyajian
- Constellation
- Cygnus
- Distance from Earth
- 443.557
- Mass
- 1.43
- Image
- KIC 8462852 in IR and UV.png
Show 12 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Kepler Space Telescope
- time of discovery or invention
- 2011-00-00
- site of astronomical discovery
- Kepler Space Telescope
- Commons category
- KIC 8462852
- nickname
- Tabby's star
- right ascension
- 301.5643860504280
- declination
- 44.4568863525439
- epoch
- J2000.0
- right ascension component of proper motion
- -10.375
- declination component of proper motion
- -10.273
- parallax
- 2.2545
- catalog code
- WISE J200615.45+442724.7
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~33 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Tabby's Star (designated as KIC 8462852 in the Kepler Input Catalog, and also known by the names Boyajian's Star and WTF(Where'sTheFlux?) Star) is a binary star in the constellation Cygnus approximately 1,470 light-years (450 parsecs) from Earth. The system is composed of an F-type main-sequence star and a red dwarf companion.
Unusual light fluctuations of Tabby's Star, including up to a 22% dimming in brightness, were discovered by citizen scientists as part of the Planet Hunters project. The discovery was made from data collected by the Kepler space telescope, which observed changes in the brightness of distant stars to detect exoplanets. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the star's large irregular changes in brightness, but as of 2024, none of them fully explain all aspects of the resulting light curve. It has been suggested that it is an extraterrestrial megastructure, but evidence tends to discount this suggestion.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tabby’s Star” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.