A team of more than 100 researchers is one step closer to solving the mystery behind the "most mysterious star in the universe," debunking the possibility that it is a structure made by aliens.
KIC 8462852, more than 1,000 light years away from the Sun, has been inexplicably dimming and brightening sporadically like no other stars.
It has spawned several theories explaining the star's unusual light patterns including an alien megastructure orbiting the star.
This NASA image obtained January 3, 2018 shows an artist's illustration of the star KIC 8462852. It's been called the "most mysterious star in the universe," bigger than the sun and yet brightening and dimming in an odd way that suggested to some an alien megastructure might be circling it. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
A new body of data collected by a team led by Tabetha Boyajian with Louisiana State University in partnership with the Las Cumbres Observatory is now available in a new paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
It came after a campaign launched to unravel the mystery by a network of telescopes around the world.
"Dust is most likely the reason why the star's light appears to dim and brighten. The new data shows that different colors of light are being blocked at different intensities. Therefore, whatever is passing between us and the star is not opaque, as would be expected from a planet or alien megastructure," Boyajian said.
Jason Wright, co-author of the paper and an astrophysicist in Penn State University, said, "if the dips were the same depth at all wavelengths ... this would suggest that the cause was something opaque, like an orbiting disk, planet or star, or even large structures in space." Instead, the team found that the star got much dimmer at some wavelengths than at others.
The scientists closely observed the star through the Las Cumbres Observatory from March 2016 to December 2017. Beginning in May 2017, there were four distinct episodes when the star's light dipped.
This NASA image obtained January 3, 2018 shows an illustration of a star behind a shattered comet, observations of the star KIC 8462852 by NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes suggest that its unusual light signals are likely from dusty comet fragments, which blocked the light of the star as they passed in front of it in 2011 and 2013. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
"This latest research rules out alien megastructures, but it raises plausibility of other phenomena being behind the dimming," Wright said. "There are models involving circumstellar material -- like exocomets ... which seem to be consistent with the data we have."
Wright also said that "some astronomers favors the idea that nothing is blocking the star -- that it just gets dimmer on its own -- and this also is consistent with this summer's data."
The method in which this star is being studied signals a new era of astronomy. Citizen scientists, sifting through massive amounts of data from the NASA Kepler mission, were the ones to detect the star's unusual behavior in the first place.
The Kepler mission is to find planets, which it does by detecting the periodic dimming made from a planet moving in front of a star, and hence blocking out a tiny bit of starlight.
"If it wasn't for people with an unbiased look on our universe, this unusual star would have been overlooked," Boyajian said. "Again, without the public support for this dedicated observing run, we would not have this large amount of data."
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Mexico accused Ecuador of a blatant violation of international law before the top U.N. court on Tuesday, asserting there was no legal defense for storming the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest a former vice president who had just been granted asylum by Mexico.
The April 5 raid, hours after Mexico granted asylum to former Vice President Jorge Glas, spiked tensions that had been brewing between the two countries since Glas, a convicted criminal and fugitive, took refuge at the embassy in December.
Leaders across Latin America condemned the raid as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
“There are lines in international law which should not be crossed. Regrettably, the Republic of Ecuador has crossed them," Alejandro Celorio Alcantara, legal adviser for Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, told the court. "The actions undertaken by Ecuador not only transverse the established boundaries of international law, but also have served a disconcerting precedent that reverberates across the international community.”
Mexico's chief of mission was shoved to the ground by police during the raid, an action captured on surveillance video that raised Mexico's ire.
“The forceful and violent incursion of Ecuadorian authorities into the premises of the Mexican Embassy and the unjustified exercise of violence against members of our diplomatic mission, alongside the blatant attempt to justify a grave violation of international law, vividly showcase Ecuador’s disregard for fundamental, universally accepted and long-standing norms,” Celorio said.
Ecuador said Glas was wanted because of corruption convictions and not for political reasons, and has argued that Mexico's granting of asylum to a convicted criminal was itself a violation of the Vienna Convention.
But Celorio asserted Tuesday that “There is no rule under international law that could nullify the inviolability of the embassy of Mexico and no standard under which the assault could be termed as a lawful operation.”
Two mornings of preliminary hearings at the International Court of Justice are focused on Mexico’s request for interim orders known as provisional measures to be put in force while the case progresses through the court — a process likely to take many months. Ecuador was expected to respond Wednesday.
Among the measures Mexico is seeking is for the court to order Ecuador to take “appropriate and immediate steps to provide full protection and security of diplomatic premises” and prevent any further intrusions. It also wants Ecuador to let Mexico clear its diplomatic premises and the homes of its diplomats in the country.
In its case filed April 11, Mexico also asked the court to award reparation and suspend Ecuador from the United Nations.
On Monday, Ecuador also filed a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Mexico of using its embassy to “shield Mr. Glas from enforcement by Ecuador of its criminal law” and arguing that the actions “constituted, among other things, a blatant misuse of the premises of a diplomatic mission.”
It asked the court to rule that Mexico's actions breached a number of international conventions. No date was immediately set for hearings in the case filed by Ecuador.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
A horse-drawn cart passes in front of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, where Mexico is taking Ecuador to the United Nations' top court accusing the nation of violating international law by storming into the Mexican embassy in Quito and arresting former Ecuador Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been holed up there seeking asylum in Mexico. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Mexico's legal advisor Alejandro Celorio Alcantar, center, and agent and ambassador Carmen Moreno Toscano, right, gave a brief statement outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, where Mexico took Ecuador to the United Nations' top court accusing the nation of violating international law by storming into the Mexican embassy in Quito and arresting former Ecuador Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been holed up there seeking asylum in Mexico. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Judge Nawaf Salam, second right, presides over the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, where Mexico is taking Ecuador to the United Nations' top court accusing the nation of violating international law by storming into the Mexican embassy in Quito and arresting former Ecuador Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been holed up there seeking asylum in Mexico. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Ecuador's ambassador Andres Teran Parral, left, and agent Ana Maria Larrea, second left, wait for judges to enter the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, where Mexico is taking Ecuador to the United Nations' top court accusing the nation of violating international law by storming into the Mexican embassy in Quito and arresting former Ecuador Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been holed up there seeking asylum in Mexico. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Mexico's delegation walks towards the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Mexico is taking Ecuador to the top U.N. court Tuesday, accusing the nation of violating international law by storming the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest Jorge Glas, a former vice president who had just been granted asylum by Mexico. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Tulips are flowering outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, where Mexico is taking Ecuador to the United Nations' top court accusing the nation of violating international law by storming into the Mexican embassy in Quito and arresting former Ecuador Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been holed up there seeking asylum in Mexico. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
FILE - A view of the Peace Palace, housing the United Nations' top court, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Feb. 19, 2024. Mexico is taking Ecuador to the United Nations' top court on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, accusing the nation of violating international law by storming into the Mexican embassy in Quito and arresting former Ecuador Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been holed up there seeking asylum in Mexico. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
FILE - A military vehicle transports former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas from the detention center where he was held after police broke into the Mexican Embassy to arrest him in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, April 6, 2024. Mexico is taking Ecuador to the United Nations' top court on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, accusing the nation of violating international law by storming into the Mexican embassy in Quito and arresting former Ecuador Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been holed up there seeking asylum in Mexico. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)
FILE - Police attempt to break into the Mexican embassy in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, April 5, 2024, following Mexico's granting of asylum to former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who had sought refuge there. Police later forcibly broke into the embassy through another entrance. Mexico is taking Ecuador to the United Nations' top court on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, accusing the nation of violating international law by storming into the Mexican embassy in Quito and arresting former Ecuador Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been holed up there seeking asylum in Mexico. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
