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The weirdest star in the galaxy could be circled by a 'melting moon'

Boyajian's Star is ripping an orphaned satellite to shreds, according to the latest hypothesis.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
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Eric Mack
2 min read
dustring

This illustration show's an artist's vision of what Tabby's Star might look like with a surrounding ring of debris. 

NASA/JPL-Caltech

There's a new theory about the curious star that erratically dims and re-brightens. 

As more data comes in, it's seeming less and less likely a massive alien construction project circles KIC 8462852, also known as Tabby's Star or Boyajian's Star or -- at one point right after its discovery in 2015 -- the alien megastructures star. But the latest hypothesis to explain the mysterious phenomenon is still pretty weird: a melting moon. 

A new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society suggests the overall dimming is caused by the accumulation of debris from just such an exomoon (the term for any moon beyond our solar system) around Boyajian's Star. 

Watch this: Mysterious star ends its strange dimming event

"The exomoon is like a comet of ice that is evaporating and spewing off these rocks into space," said Brian Metzger, a Columbia University astrophysics professor and lead author on the study. "Eventually the exomoon will completely evaporate, but it will take millions of years for the moon to be melted and consumed by the star. We're so lucky to see this evaporation event happen."

While aliens or swarms of comets were among some early explanations for the star's odd behavior, more scientists are beginning to agree that it's probably due to some kind of dust or debris

Metzger and colleagues' theory goes like this: At some point there was a planet with a moon orbiting Boyajian's star, but something destroyed the planet and the star snatched up the exomoon and placed it in a new orbit around the star itself. This exposed the former moon to intense new levels of radiation that are slowly melting and ripping it apart. The accumulation of fine bits and larger chunks of debris could explain both the long and short-term dimming behaviors. 

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What's also interesting about the idea is that while there are promising candidates that we think could be exomoons, the existence of moons beyond our solar system hasn't yet been confirmed. 

"But a moon being thrown off into its host star can't be that uncommon," Metzger said. 

Perhaps. Although we've never directly observed that happening before. One thing we have seen, though, is an intelligent civilization that has begun to circle the celestial body it occupies with all kinds of artificial satellites and debris. 

I'm not betting aliens are the real explanation, but I'm just saying...  

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