Tabby's Star

Tabby's Star, or KIC 8462852, is an F-type star in the constellation Cygnus whose brightness undergoes irregular, unusually deep dips.

Boyajian's dips: The irregular, deep decreases in KIC 8462852's observed brightness, first reported in data from the Kepler space telescope. These sudden events are the star's defining short-term brightness changes.
Kepler space telescope: NASA's space observatory that measured stellar brightness to find planets through transits. Kepler recorded the data in which the star's unusually deep dips appeared.
Jason Wright: An astronomer whose work includes searching for signs of technologically advanced civilizations and studying unusual stellar observations. His discussion of artificial megastructures helped popularize one speculative explanation for the dips.
Kepler light curve of KIC 8462852: A record of KIC 8462852's measured brightness over time during the Kepler mission. Its unusual shape first made the star stand out from ordinary variable stars.
Boyajian's Star and the interstellar medium: The study of whether intervening interstellar material can contribute to KIC 8462852's measured dimming. Separating local stellar effects from foreground absorption remains part of interpreting long-term observations.
Circumstellar dust: Dust orbiting a star that can absorb and scatter some of its emitted light. Wavelength-dependent dimming supports dust as a cause of the star's large dips.
Planet Hunters: A citizen-science project in which volunteers classify patterns in astronomical data, especially Kepler light curves. Volunteers helped flag the star's anomalous light curve for professional study.
Bradley Schaefer: An astronomer who reported evidence for a long-term brightness decline in historical photographic plates of KIC 8462852. His analysis extended debate from Kepler's brief dips to possible century-scale fading.
Dimming event of May 2017: A major observed fading episode of KIC 8462852 in May 2017, followed by several smaller dips. This event enabled coordinated observations across multiple wavelengths and observatories.
Extinction law: A relation describing how dust reduces light at different wavelengths. The wavelength dependence of dimming can reveal the size and composition of obscuring grains.

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