Where Is the Flux Going? The Long-Term Photometric Variability of Boyajian's Star

TL;DR

This study presents over four years of photometric data showing that Boyajian's Star has experienced a steady decline in brightness, with additional brightening episodes, challenging existing models of its variability.

Contribution

It provides the longest baseline of photometric monitoring of Boyajian's Star, revealing complex long-term variability inconsistent with current explanations.

Findings

Star's brightness decreased by 1.5% since 2015

Detected two brightening episodes in the past 11 years

Long-term variability is statistically significant and inconsistent with existing models

Abstract

We present ~800 days of photometric monitoring of Boyajian's Star (KIC 8462852) from the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) and ~4000 days of monitoring from the All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS). We show that from 2015 to the present the brightness of Boyajian's Star has steadily decreased at a rate of 6.3 +/- 1.4 mmag yr^-1, such that the star is now 1.5% fainter than it was in February 2015. Moreover, the longer time baseline afforded by ASAS suggests that Boyajian's Star has also undergone two brightening episodes in the past 11 years, rather than only exhibiting a monotonic decline. We analyze a sample of ~1000 comparison stars of similar brightness located in the same ASAS-SN field and demonstrate that the recent fading is significant at >99.4% confidence. The 2015-2017 dimming rate is consistent with that measured with Kepler data for the time period from 2009 to 2013. This long-term variability is difficult to explain with any of the physical models for the star's behavior proposed to date.