Astrobites: A Look back at 2016!
A Happy New Year from everyone at Astrobites! Read on to find out about our fun events, collaborations and top-read articles in the last 12 months!
No need for alien mega-structures around the WTF star
The WTF star, formally known as KIC 8462852, has been causing lots of fuss not only in the scientific community but also in the media. Some suggest strange features in its light curve are the work of an alien civilization. The authors of today’s paper came up with a much simpler solution.
Image credits: Danielle Futselaar / SETI International
New World Weather
Astronomers discover weather on a new world for the first time.
A new discovery of a secondary eclipse
HAT-P-11b is a Neptune-size transiting exoplanet with water in its atmosphere. Here we discuss the first detection of its secondary eclipse.
A New Planetary Architecture: Hot Earths
Is there an excess of very short period, Eart-sized planets? What could produce such a thing?
Tabby’s star faded throughout the Kepler mission
It seems that Tabby’s star has more tricks up in its sleeve than previously thought: today’s pre-print shows evidence that the WTF star has actually dimmed during the 4-year long Kepler mission, throwing more fuel into the fire. But do not expect aliens. Just saying.