Episode 30 - Not a Glimmer of an Idea

Released: 27 May 2016
Duration: 67 minutes, 16 seconds

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We interview LSU astronomer Bradley Schaefer about why he s sticking to his guns about the century-long dimming of Tabby's Star (KIC 8462952), why some popular explanations fail, and what can be done to further explore the reason that this star's behavior is so weird. In particular, Brad wants to encourage us to contribute to Tabetha Boyajian's kickstarter to buy telescope time to monitor the star.

Links:

The Fast and Slow Dimming of Tabby's Star
Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 1
The Most Mysterious Star in the Universe
Interview with Tabetha Boyajian
Brad Schaefer: KIC 8462852 Faded at an Average Rate of 0.165+-0.013 Magnitudes Per Century From 1890 To 1989
Brad Schaefer on Centauri Dreams: Further Thoughts on the Dimming of KIC 8462852

Credits:

Host and Producer: Paul Carr
Announcer: Erin Carr
Music: DJ Spooky, George Hrab

The Wow! Signal is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Burst 11- DASCH Photometry with Dr. Josh Grindlay

Released: 6 February 2016
Duration: 22 minutes, 18 seconds

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Dr. Jonathan "Josh" Grindlay

An edited interview with Dr. Josh Grindlay concerning the use of measurements of star brightness
from the Digital Access to a Sky Century @Harvard to measure the dimming (or not) of Tabby's Star over a Century. Grindlay critiques Hippke's paper that found dimming in several stars in the DASCH data, and also Schaefer's claim that Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852) is slowly dimming.

Erratum: I said "Schaefer" in the epilogue when I meant "Grindlay"

Links:

Boyajian, et. al. Planet Hunters X. KIC 8462852 - Where's the Flux?
Schaefer: KIC 8462852 Faded at an Average Rate of 0.165+-0.013 Magnitudes Per Century From 1890 To 1989
The Wow! Signal Interview with Brad Schaefer: The Slow and Fast Dimming of Tabby's Star
Hippke and Angerhausen: KIC 8462852 did likely not fade during the last 100 years
Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard
Schaefer on Centauri Dreams: A Response to Michael Hippke

Landolt Standard Stars
Landolt, UBVRI Photometric standard stars in the magnitude range 11.0 - 16.0 around the celestial equator (Astronomical Journal, 1992)

Credits:

Host and Producer: Paul Carr
Music: Jason Robinson and Erika Lloyd