NASA / JPL-CaltechOf all the 150,000+ stars imaged by NASA's Kepler, the most bizarre has to be KIC 8462852: Tabby's Star. Matt of the Zooniverse/Planet Hunters teamWhile other stars show small, periodic dips in their brightness due to transiting planets, Tabby's star shows something unique. Infrared: IPAC/NASA (2MASS), at left; Ultraviolet: STScI (GALEX), at rightInfrared and ultraviolet observations rule out a protoplanetary disk here; astronomers must consider other explanations. L. Neslusan and J. Budaj, via https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.06121But other observations showed that Tabby's star has dimmed by 20% since 1900, something neither proposal explained. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory / GSFCA quality light spectrum, taken during the ongoing dimming, could finally discern which model is correct.

Source: Forbes May 22, 2017 13:52 UTC