KIC 8462852: Will the Trojans return in 2021?

Abstract

KIC 8462852 stood out among more than 100,000 stars in the Kepler catalogue because of the strange features of its light curve: a wide, asymmetric dimming taking up to 15 per cent of the light at D793 and a period of multiple, narrow dimmings happening approximately 700 days later. Several models have been proposed to account for this abnormal behaviour, most of which require either unlikely causes or a finely-tuned timing. We aim at offering a relatively natural solution, invoking only phenomena that have been previously observed, although perhaps in larger or more massive versions. We model the system using a large, ringed body whose transit produces the first dimming and a swarm of Trojan objects sharing its orbit that causes the second period of multiple dimmings. The resulting orbital period is $T\approx 12$ years, with a semi-major axis $a\approx 6$ au. Our model allows us to make two straightforward predictions: we expect the passage of a new swarm of Trojans in front of the star starting during the early months of 2021, and a new transit of the main object during the first half of 2023.

arXiv comment5 pages, 2 figures. v3: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters

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• Modelling the KIC8462852 light curves: compatibility of the dips and secular dimming with an exocomet interpretation
• The TROY project: Searching for co-orbital bodies to known planets. I. Project goals and first results from archival radial velocity
• 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
• Anomalous light curves of young tilted exorings
• VVV-WIT-07: another Boyajian's star or a Mamajek's object?
• Hundreds of new periodic signals detected in the first year of $TESS$ with the $\mathtt{weirddetector}$
• Sudden extreme obscuration of a Sun-like main-sequence star: evolution of the circumstellar dust around ASASSN-21qj
• Recent Photometric Monitoring of KIC 8462852, the Detection of a Potential Repeat of the Kepler Day 1540 Dip and a Plausible Model
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• Future Exoplanet Research: Science Questions and How to Address Them
• Proper Motion of the Faint Star near KIC 8462852 (Boyajian's Star) - Not a Binary System
• High-resolution spectroscopy of Boyajian's star during optical dimming events
• Searching for technosignatures in exoplanetary systems with current and future missions
• Special cases : moons, rings, comets, trojans