Posted on 10/04/2017 9:55:43 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The bizarre long-term dimming of Tabby's star — also known as Boyajian's star, or, more formally, KIC 8462852 — is likely caused by dust, not a giant network of solar panels or any other "megastructure" built by advanced aliens, a new study suggests.
Astronomers came to this conclusion after noticing that this dimming was more pronounced in ultraviolet (UV) than infrared light. Any object bigger than a dust grain would cause uniform dimming across all wavelengths, study team members said. [13 Ways to Hunt Intelligent Aliens]
"This pretty much rules out the alien megastructure theory, as that could not explain the wavelength-dependent dimming," lead author Huan Meng of the University of Arizona said in a statement. "We suspect, instead, there is a cloud of dust orbiting the star with a roughly 700-day orbital period."
KIC 8462852, which lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth, has generated a great deal of intrigue and speculation since 2015. That year, a team led by astronomer Tabetha Boyajian (hence the star's nicknames) reported that KIC 8462852 had dimmed dramatically several times over the past half-decade or so, once by 22 percent.
No orbiting planet could cause such big dips, so researchers began coming up with possible alternative explanations. These included swarms of comets or comet fragments, interstellar dust and the famous (but unlikely) alien-megastructure hypothesis.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Thanks BenLurkin.
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I’m pretty sure it IS aliens.
Bad conclusion. UV has more energy and therefore would be better to harness. A megastructure would emit heat. This is actually an indication it is a megastructure. /short version, too tired to get into the physics
Damn, I was counting on a concession stand there.
Exactly. It was a shadow square malfunction.
What were we talking about, again?
Although in some cases interstellar dust can cause “reddening” of light from a star, so maybe I’m wrong.
During my last abduction/encounter, the Pleiadian leader
Hapschat Rama-Ono Hooper-Bukowski imparted to me
"Special Knowledge"
This included the fact that the star, KIC 8462852,
is in fact surrounded by a Dyson Sphere.
The reason we cannot detect this Dyson Sphere is because
it is equipped with a phase shifting, oscillating
cloaking device which the Reptilian inhabitants of KIC 8462852
stole from the Romulans, back in 1969.
Maybe it’s a megastructure of nanoplanets.
Why don’t they send a damn telescope to the Star so we can keep monitoring it while it gets closer to it?
Ummm, wouldn’t these actually be an indication that it “is” an alien megastructure?
capturing the UV light but letting the infrared through?
Huh? The fact that it's a frickin' STAR doesn't rule that out immediately?
Read up about this star:
Epsilon Aurigae
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Aurigae
Not all that different an event, just longer cycle.
It’s a food spacecraft...
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