Editorial Board
The Weirdest Star
An enigma, a quest and one very ennobling project.
Keep looking.
Photographer: Florian Gaertner/PhotothekSometime around 737 AD, in the luminous constellation Cygnus, in the vicinity of a star known as KIC 8462852, something very strange happened. No one knows what. Here on Earth, 1,280 light years away, the mystery has only deepened as scientists have watched it unfold.
The star in question is very odd indeed. Every once in a while, the light it emits dims perceptibly, sometimes by an astonishing amount. Ordinarily, such dimming might suggest a passing planet. In this case, the sheer magnitude of the dip, and its irregular pattern, would seem to rule out anything so mundane.