qubit
Overclocked quantum bit
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2007
- Messages
- 17,865 (2.98/day)
- Location
- Quantum Well UK
| System Name | Quantumville™ |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-2700K @ 4GHz |
| Motherboard | Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 |
| Cooling | Noctua NH-D14 |
| Memory | 16GB (2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance Black DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz) |
| Video Card(s) | MSI RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio |
| Storage | Samsung 850 Pro 256GB | WD Black 4TB | WD Blue 6TB |
| Display(s) | ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQR (4K, 144Hz, G-SYNC compatible) | Asus MG28UQ (4K, 60Hz, FreeSync compatible) |
| Case | Cooler Master HAF 922 |
| Audio Device(s) | Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty PCIe |
| Power Supply | Corsair AX1600i |
| Mouse | Microsoft Intellimouse Pro - Black Shadow |
| Keyboard | Yes |
| Software | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit |
The catchily named KIC 8462852 is currently puzzling astronomers with its varying brightness. However, now to deepen the mystery, it turns out to be fading away over time too.
No one knows what's really happening here, but I speculate that the star is unstable because it's either beginning to run out of fuel, or it's transitioning from one phase to another. I think in the long run it will brighten up again (perhaps in hundreds of years) and may become very bright. Alas, we won't live long enough to know.
This is certainly not due to alien civilisations like has been speculated when the weird brightness changes were first spotted.
"The steady brightness change in KIC 8462852 is pretty astounding," said Montet. "Our highly accurate measurements over four years demonstrate that the star really is getting fainter with time. It is unprecedented for this type of star to slowly fade for years, and we don't see anything else like it in the Kepler data."
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/cifs-ogm100316.php
No one knows what's really happening here, but I speculate that the star is unstable because it's either beginning to run out of fuel, or it's transitioning from one phase to another. I think in the long run it will brighten up again (perhaps in hundreds of years) and may become very bright. Alas, we won't live long enough to know.
This is certainly not due to alien civilisations like has been speculated when the weird brightness changes were first spotted.
"The steady brightness change in KIC 8462852 is pretty astounding," said Montet. "Our highly accurate measurements over four years demonstrate that the star really is getting fainter with time. It is unprecedented for this type of star to slowly fade for years, and we don't see anything else like it in the Kepler data."
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/cifs-ogm100316.php
