Harvard Observing Project monitoring of Boyajian's Star (KIC 8462852)
Abstract
Between 2009 and 2013, the Kepler spacecraft observed ~200,000 stars, repeatedly measuring their brightness to look for regular dimmings that could indicate the presence of a transiting planet (Borucki et al. 2010). This endeavor led to the discovery of thousands of planets. However, the data pertaining to one star, KIC 8462852, nicknamed “Tabby's Star” or “Boyajian's Star" indicated sporadic dimmings thought to be resulting from massive, evolving, and erratic shapes passing in front of the star (Boyajian et al. 2016, Wright and Sigurdsson 2016). Additional observations have indicated that KIC 8462852 has faded by approximately 20% over the past century (Wright and Sigurdsson 2016). Kepler is now observing other areas of space, and consequently, ground-based efforts have emerged in order to continue tracking the brightness of KIC 8462852. The Harvard Observing Project (HOP) is an observational astronomy initiative that engages undergraduate students and provides graduate students with the opportunity to lead sessions of data collection. During the fall 2016 semester, HOP will be observing KIC 8462852 in BVRI filters using Harvard's 16-inch DFM Clay telescope. We will present a light curve of the star spanning the course of three months.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #229
- Pub Date:
- January 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AAS...22924032S