Evidence for a giant companion orbiting Tabby’s star
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ID: 319807
2026
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Abstract
Abstract KIC 8462852, also known as Tabby’s star, shows deep, irregular flux variations up to 20percnt in its Kepler light curve. These unusual events show no apparent periodicity. Multi-wavelength observations show the dips are consistent with transiting dust, although its origin remains uncertain. The leading explanation is that dust may originate from a family of exocomets or planetesimal fragments. TESS data reveal a unique, symmetric transit event consistent with a planet or brown dwarf. This would support the theory that incoming exocometary bodies may result from orbital perturbations by a planet. The analysis of the TESS and, archival and newly obtained radial velocity (RV) data, suggests that a companion could orbit around Tabby’s star with a period of at least ~1030 d. When combined with the constraints imposed by Kepler and other photometric surveys, we find only five orbital period windows are possible. We conduct observations to follow-up the first two windows, significantly reducing the allowed ranges. Fitting the TESS transit using exocometary models produces a poor fit or the need of physically unrealistic parameters, favouring the giant companion hypothesis. A 2.3σ detection of $M=9.4^{+4.9}_{-4.1}$ MJup (3σ upper limit < 28.0 MJup) at the transit orbital period provides tentative evidence of the companion, but more RV observations are required. Along with the radius R = 1.7 ± 0.1 RJup, the companion would lie in the giant planet-brown dwarf regime. In the future Gaia DR4 astrometry will reveal the nature of this object.
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openalex_W7167462163
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| Authors | Cristina Madurga Favieres, P A Strøm, T. G. Wilson, N. Heidari, F. Kiefer |
| Journal | monthly notices of the royal astronomical society |
| Year | 2026 |
| DOI |
10.1093/mnras/stag1273
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| URL | |
| Keywords | Keywords not found |
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