Scientists still confounded by Milky Way's most mysterious star
Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Tabby's Star continues to confound astronomers. New analysis shows the Milky Way's 'most mysterious star' has experienced brief periods of brightening amid its prolonged dimming.The star, officially titled KIC 8462852, and sometimes called Boyajian's Star, first caught astronomers attention in 2015. While monitoring the F-type main-sequence star, NASA's Kepler Space Telescope captured a series of rapid dimming events.When researchers analyzed archival observation of the star, they found Tabby's Star has been gradually dimming for some time. Astronomers came up with a variety of explanations for the dimming episodes, including periodic transits by exoplanets or dust clouds.However, a more recent survey of 11 years of KIC 8462852 observations revealed two brief brightening st...