Improving the Photometric Calibration of the Enigmatic Star KIC 8462852

Volume 45 number 2 (2017)

Download this article (pdf)

Adam J. Lahey

Bowling Green State University\\ Department of Physics \& Astronomy, 104 Overman Hall\\ Bowling Green, OH 43403; adamjl@bgsu.edu

Douglas M. Dimick

Bowling Green State University\\ Department of Physics \& Astronomy, 104 Overman Hall\\ Bowling Green, OH 43403; ddimici@bgsu.edu

Andrew C. Layden

Bowling Green State University\\ Department of Physics \& Astronomy, 104 Overman Hall\\ Bowling Green, OH 43403; laydena@bgsu.edu

Abstract

The star KIC 8462852 undergoes dimming events whose origin remains unexplained. Observers from the AAVSO have obtained an impressive amount of data on this challenging, low-amplitude, irregular variable star. We present new, all-sky observations of KIC 8462852 and its surrounding comparison stars in order to refine their photometric calibration, obtaining V = 11.892 and IC = 11.210 mag for KIC 8462852 itself. However, our calibration is not definitive and we recommend additional observations that should enable a more precise and accurate recalibration of the AAVSO photometry. We also present our photometric time-series for KIC 8462852 that spans 1.6 years in which we find hints for dimming below its canonical brightness in the days around 2017 May 18.