A Search for Analogs of KIC 8462852 (Boyajian's Star): A Second List of Candidates

TL;DR

This paper expands the search for stars similar to Boyajian's star across the entire sky, identifying 15 new candidates with infrequent brightness dips, some of which may be promising targets for SETI investigations.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive sky-wide search for analogs of Boyajian's star, discovering new candidates and analyzing their distribution and properties.

Findings

15 new candidate stars identified with low dipping rates

Candidates cluster in specific regions of the HR diagram and space

Potential targets for SETI searches due to their clustering

Abstract

In data from the Kepler mission, the normal F3V star KIC 8462852 (Boyajian's star) was observed to exhibit infrequent dips in brightness that have not been satisfactorily explained. A previous paper reported the first results of a search for other similar stars in a limited region of the sky around the Kepler field. This paper expands on that search to cover the entire sky between declinations of +22 degrees and +68 degrees. Fifteen new candidates with low rates of dipping, referred to as "slow dippers" in Paper I, have been identified. The dippers occupy a limited region of the HR diagram and an apparent clustering in space is found. This latter feature suggests that these stars are attractive targets for SETI searches.