KIC 8462852 - The Infrared Flux

Abstract

We analyzed the warm Spitzer/IRAC data of KIC 8462852. We found no evidence of infrared excess at 3.6 micron and a small excess of 0.43 +/- 0.18 mJy at 4.5 micron, below the 3 sigma threshold necessary to claim a detection. The lack of strong infrared excess 2 years after the events responsible for the unusual light curve observed by Kepler, further disfavors the scenarios involving a catastrophic collision in a KIC 8462852 asteroid belt, a giant impact disrupting a planet in the system or a population of a dust-enshrouded planetesimals. The scenario invoking the fragmentation of a family of comets on a highly elliptical orbit is instead consistent with the lack of strong infrared excess found by our analysis.

arXiv commentPublished on The Astrophysical Journal Letters

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Cited by in corpus (30)

• Planet Hunters X. KIC 8462852 - Where's the Flux?
• KIC 8462852: Transit of a Large Comet Family
• Families of Plausible Solutions to the Puzzle of Boyajian's Star
• The First Post-Kepler Brightness Dips of KIC 8462852
• KIC 8462852 Faded at an Average Rate of 0.165+-0.013 Magnitudes Per Century From 1890 To 1989
• KIC 8462852 Faded Throughout the Kepler Mission
• A Search for Laser Emission with Megawatt Thresholds from 5600 FGKM Stars
• Modelling the KIC8462852 light curves: compatibility of the dips and secular dimming with an exocomet interpretation
• Secular Dimming of KIC 8462852 Following its Consumption of a Planet
• Optical SETI Observations of the Anomalous Star KIC 8462852
• Constraints on the circumstellar dust around KIC 8462852
• KIC 8462852: Will the Trojans return in 2021?
• Extinction and the Dimming of KIC 8462852
• IRTF/SPEX Observations of the Unusual Kepler Lightcurve System KIC8462852
• Mysterious eclipses in the light-curve of KIC8462852: a possible explanation
• The peculiar dipping events in the disk-bearing young-stellar object EPIC 204278916
• A statistical analysis of the accuracy of the digitized magnitudes of photometric plates on the time scale of decades with an application to the century-long light curve of KIC 8462852
• Photometric and astrometric vagaries of the enigma star KIC 8462852
• Detection of a repeated transit signature in the light curve of the enigma star KIC 8462852: a 928-day period?
• Where Is the Flux Going? The Long-Term Photometric Variability of Boyajian's Star
• Sonneberg plate photometry for Boyajian's Star in two passbands
• Orphaned Exomoons: Tidal Detachment and Evaporation Following an Exoplanet-Star Collision
• The GALEX View of "Boyajian's Star" (KIC 8462852)
• Boyajian's Star B: The co-moving stellar companion to KIC 8462852
• The Stability of F-star Brightness on Century Timescales
• The High Rate of the Boyajian's Star Anomaly as a Phenomenon
• High-resolution spectroscopy of Boyajian's star during optical dimming events
• Non-gray, Month-long Brightening of KIC 8462852 in the Immediate Aftermath of a Deep Dip
• The nature of ASASSN-24fw's occultation: modelling the event as dimming by optically thick rings around a sub-stellar companion
• Extrasolar enigmas: from disintegrating exoplanets to exoasteroids