This is a silly article.
They use Jupiter as some sort of argument against very large planets.
We have what, 9 in our solar system. Just nine. Jupiter is the largest here. That is not a statistically valid sample size at all.
The start has a very large planet orbiting it. Simple answer. Very, very big.
“We have what, 9 in our solar system. Just nine. Jupiter is the largest here. That is not a statistically valid sample size at all.”
They don’t make the judgement that planets can’t get much bigger than Jupiter based simply on the knowledge of the planets in our solar system. It’s based on the laws of gravity. Once a planet gets past a certain mass, gravity will cause the matter to compress until nuclear reactions start and it becomes a star. If it was a star passing in front of this star, then the star would get brighter, not dimmer, so that can safely be ruled out.
Maybe it’s not a planet. Maybe it’s a space station.
How big does a planet get tone before its internal processes jumpstarts it into a star?
Michelles a## may have gotten in the way of the telescope
If you read up on the observances, they are not evenly timed and the dimming varies. I don't think there is a simple answer because the whole point of the articles on this star are that the dimming effect is irregular and complicated.