That’s the view of a new paper by Louisiana State University astronomer and scores of co-authors — including astronomers and from the 91̽»¨. The paper has been accepted for publication in .

KIC 8462852 is nicknamed “Tabby’s Star” after Boyajian, who discovered it with the help of citizen scientists. The star has intrigued astronomers with its irregular, unexplained dips in light of up to about 22 percent. It’s an otherwise average star, about 1,250 light-years away, in the constellation Cygnus, and is about 40 percent more massive than the sun and about four times brighter.

The unusual dimming spawned many to explain the star’s behavior, with some hoping against all odds that the star might be orbited by a massive superstructure to harness energy  — the work of an advanced civilization. But observations from March 2016 to December 2017 from the , a network of robotic telescopes, indicate the explanation is likely more prosaic than that: Space dust.

“Dust is most likely the reason why the star’s light appears to dim and brighten,” said Boyajian, an assistant professor of astronomy and physics at LSU. “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.”

In May of 2017, Boyajian saw that the star was again beginning to dim, and to fellow researchers to observe the star immediately. That’s where Morris and Davenport came in.

“Our involvement in this project was to be immediate responders,” said Morris, who is a 91̽»¨doctoral student in astronomy. “I frequently observe on the ARC 3.5 m Telescope at Apache Point Observatory, and was able to secure a bit of time to observe at the beginning of several dips.”

Davenport, who is a post-doctoral researcher at both the 91̽»¨and Western Washington University, alerted Morris to Boyajian’s call to action. Morris said he “pleaded” with those scheduled to use the telescope that late that night to get a few minutes of observing time. “At first maybe they thought I was an over-enthusiastic graduate student or a conspiracy theorist,” he said, but when he explained to them the importance of the moment, they agreed.

“Our observations were within the first three high-resolution spectra to be taken of the star after the dimming began,” Morris said. He spent the morning , where, he said, “many open science conversations ensued.” Boyajian proudly showed Twitter followers their first response in a proclaiming “Day-tah!”

Davenport, who did on Tabby’s Star in late 2017 and was among those who Boyajian notified, said his contribution was mostly alerting Morris, whose expertise in observational astronomy made him “the perfect person for doing the follow-up.” Davenport also assisted in analyzing data.

“Tabby’s Star” was first seen to perform its dips by the Kepler Space Telescope in 2015. Davenport noted that more than a year passed before the anomalies in the data were noticed. “We may go back and find that this kind of event is occurring in lots of our data,” he said.

Boyajian praised the citizen scientists and Planet Hunters, who were the ones to detect the star’s unusual behavior in first place.

“If it wasn’t for people with an unbiased look on our universe, this unusual star would have been overlooked,” she said, adding. “Without the public support for this dedicated observing run, we would not have this large amount of data.”

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This was based in part on a by Louisiana State University. For more information on their work, contact Morris at bmmorris@uw.edu or Davenport at James.Davenport@wwu.edu.

Three 91̽»¨ astrobiologists will discuss their research and introduce the new 3-D IMAX movie “” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, in the PACCAR Theater of the Pacific Science Center.

Speaking will be 91̽»¨doctoral students of astronomy and of physics as well as , research associate professor of Earth and space sciences and associate director of the UW’s . All three are affiliated with the 91̽»¨.

Harnett uses physics-based computer programs to study how radiation and the sun’s magnetic fields influence the upper atmospheres and surfaces of planets and moons in the solar system. She investigates the evolutions of these environments over time, and how current conditions may affect how robotic probes, or even humans, could explore such worlds.

Morris studies stars and planets with observations from ground- and space-based telescopes. He was a co-author on UW-led and has researched and “transit timing variations” as well. Styczinski uses magnetic fields to study the icy crust of Jupiter’s moons, looking for places where life may be found. He was a in the 2016 91̽»¨Science Now lecture series at Town Hall Seattle.

As notes from producer December Media state, “The Search for Life in Space” takes the viewer on a journey “from the depths of the Pacific Ocean into the far reaches of space” to show how astrobiologists are searching for life beyond Earth.

“With cutting-edge imagery from the world’s most powerful telescopes, (the film) takes audiences from the surface of Mars and the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, to the extreme lava fields of Hawaii and thermal vents deep beneath the sea.” Astrobiologists look in such harsh environments for clues to how life takes hold, on Earth or perhaps elsewhere.

The IMAX documentary is narrated by film star Malcolm McDowell. It features Cornell astronomer , who is director of the .

The film was produced in association with Film Victoria Australia and Swinburne University of Technology. It is part of the Pacific Science Center’s series of events.

are $5 and doors open at 6:40 p.m. A Facebook page for the event is .

Watch the film’s trailer below: