Frontiers of Astronomy

Data collected during the NASA Kepler Mission, whose primary goal was to find transiting planets, produced four-year-long, ultra-precise light curves for over 150,000 stars. One such star, called KIC 8462852, was observed by citizen scientists to undergo unusual variations in brightness. Theories about these variations abound, though satisfactory explanations of the star’s unusual light curve have remained elusive.  Dr. Tabetha Boyajian will describe the discovery of those fluctuations, recent developments, and future work planned to study this star. Learn how you can follow along and help with this celestial mystery.