Now researchers analyzing Boyajian's Star suggest that its mysterious behavior might not be due to structures in its surroundings, but rather to some kind of internal activity.
"This is a very, very different explanation from what's been kicking around up to now," said study co-author Richard Weaver, a condensed-matter physicist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Over four years, the scientists analyzed the spectrum of fluctuations in the light from Boyajian's Star. They found that these anomalies followed a pattern that is characteristic of avalanches and other systems that undergo sudden, major shifts. For example, magnets can experience changes in which all of the randomly oriented magnetic fields within them can flip, and then line up. Previous research has also found avalanche-like patterns in powerful explosions like stellar flares.