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SETI@home Science :
The Most Mysterious Star in the Galaxy
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Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1387 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
SETI scientists hope to examine one of the stars in the Kepler Field as early as January, 2016. It seems that rather than the subtle signs of extra-solar planets, the Kepler Space Telescope found something very unusual about the star KIC 8462852. Deep, irregular dimmings of the star were noted. Many natural explanations were considered, but none was very satisfactory in explaining what was observed. An unnatural explanation is proposed; that huge structures may have been placed in orbit of this star to collect its energy for use by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. See linked article, below for further details: http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/10/the-most-interesting-star-in-our-galaxy/410023/ |
Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
SETI scientists hope to examine one of the stars in the Kepler Field as early as January, 2016. It seems that rather than the subtle signs of extra-solar planets, the Kepler Space Telescope found something very unusual about the star KIC 8462852. Deep, irregular dimmings of the star were noted. Many natural explanations were considered, but none was very satisfactory in explaining what was observed. Thanks Michael for Interesting article. |
JakeTheDog Send message Joined: 3 Nov 13 Posts: 153 Credit: 2,585,912 RAC: 0 |
Would it be possible for SETI staff to keep us up to date on this investigation? Let us know when initial observations are made in January, and if successful when tapes are obtained late next year? Also, is this the first time an interesting candidate like this has been found where there is an interesting astronomical observation and and SETI and radio telescopes have been directed towards them? Or have there been others in the past? I've only joined SETI 3 years ago so I'm pretty new about events like this. Was going to post about this but beat me to it. Is the news a little oversensationalized or does anyone familiar with this story know if this is truly one of the most interesting candidates? I read the paper's intro and conclusion and they only focused on natural causes. Wikipedia lists the star's distance as 1481 LY away. |
Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1387 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
Went out and looked up at the night sky. Cygnus is almost directly overhead in the evening these days, in the mid-northern latitudes. Looked at the spot where this star and its mysterious companions are located, roughly midway between bright Deneb and Delta Cygni, the star which marks the end of the westward-pointing wing of the Swan. Wondered what may eventually come of all we've heard today. |
Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1387 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
I read the paper's intro and conclusion and they only focused on natural causes. A second scientific paper is reportedly being prepared, which will discuss the possibility of technological causes of the odd light variations of the star. |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
How far away is this? The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
William Rothamel Send message Joined: 25 Oct 06 Posts: 3756 Credit: 1,999,735 RAC: 4 |
How big(mass) are these alleged objects. What distance are they from their star. We should be able to answer these questions now and see if they match and warrant the current speculative excitement. |
Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1387 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
Response to Gordon Lowe--It's about 1480 light years away, usually rounded to 1500 in the media. Not too far, on the galactic scale, only about 1 & 1/2 percent of the diameter of our galaxy. |
Jord Send message Joined: 9 Jun 99 Posts: 15184 Credit: 4,362,181 RAC: 3 |
Possibly aliens building a Dyson sphere around that distant sun, according to The Washington Post. “It was kind of unbelievable that it was real data,†said Yale University astronomer Tabetha Boyajian. “We were scratching our heads. For any idea that came up there was always something that would argue against it.†|
KLiK Send message Joined: 31 Mar 14 Posts: 1304 Credit: 22,994,597 RAC: 60 |
Would it be possible for SETI staff to keep us up to date on this investigation? Let us know when initial observations are made in January, and if successful when tapes are obtained late next year? +1 non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU |
Julie Send message Joined: 28 Oct 09 Posts: 34060 Credit: 18,883,157 RAC: 18 |
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Bob DeWoody Send message Joined: 9 May 10 Posts: 3387 Credit: 4,182,900 RAC: 10 |
It does look interesting but at 1,800 LY we aren't going to get there or get an answer to a message any time soon. Just think how much things will change in 3,600 years. The reality of our situation is a real bummer. Even if we do find conclusive proof of ETI there just isn't much we can do about it, except dream. Bob DeWoody My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events. |
KLiK Send message Joined: 31 Mar 14 Posts: 1304 Credit: 22,994,597 RAC: 60 |
It does look interesting but at 1,800 LY we aren't going to get there or get an answer to a message any time soon. Just think how much things will change in 3,600 years. The reality of our situation is a real bummer. Even if we do find conclusive proof of ETI there just isn't much we can do about it, except dream. yeah, but! 1. it's about 1500LY 2. they are leading in technology, that's OLD 1500y...where were we 15 centuries ago?! now even middle age has started...center of civilization was Rome...& in US only native tribes lived! 3. let's eavesdrop a little...maybe we can find some communication of them...& find out more about them first?! 4. then some smart people can sit behind a table in UN & decide to talk to them or not... ;) non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU |
John D Anthony Send message Joined: 4 Sep 15 Posts: 177 Credit: 1,303,001 RAC: 1 |
It does look interesting but at 1,800 LY we aren't going to get there or get an answer to a message any time soon. Just think how much things will change in 3,600 years. The reality of our situation is a real bummer. Even if we do find conclusive proof of ETI there just isn't much we can do about it, except dream. True, but we will have a whole solar system to do our dreaming in, and that's not bad. |
William Rothamel Send message Joined: 25 Oct 06 Posts: 3756 Credit: 1,999,735 RAC: 4 |
let's eavesdrop a little At 1500 light years you wont be able to eavesdrop. Furthermore; A Dyson sphere would encircle the entire star. A more likely scenario, if in fact intelligence is involved in this perceived discovery, such things might be shades to keep an expanding sun from incinerating various planets. The interesting gotcha is that we will never know what is actually there, if anything. I presume that we find no high-powered beam emanating from this star. |
Cactus Bob Send message Joined: 19 May 99 Posts: 209 Credit: 10,924,287 RAC: 29 |
Furthermore; A Dyson sphere would encircle the entire star. A more likely scenario, if in fact intelligence is involved in this perceived discovery, such things might be shades to keep an expanding sun from incinerating various planets. They may be only 30% complete or only need that much power and have no need to completely encircle the star at this point. The shade idea sounds interesting also. Would be interesting to see if that is a workable idea for an expanding sun. At 1500 light years you wont be able to eavesdrop. I suspect it would be rather difficult at that distance if they used radio waves as we do to communicate. Using light/laser might make it possible. Of course this is probably a natural phenomenon and not a constructed one but we can hope. UB Sometimes I wonder, what happened to all the people I gave directions to? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SETI@home classic workunits 4,321 SETI@home classic CPU time 22,169 hours |
KLiK Send message Joined: 31 Mar 14 Posts: 1304 Credit: 22,994,597 RAC: 60 |
let's eavesdrop a little of course Arecibo will not be enough...though, Chinese new FAST might?! or GBT?! also, there's also a question of scanning in all frequencies...for me, first thing I'd do is to scan it in near-infra red...wanna see if there's some residual heat access in that solar system! also, there might not be a Dyson sphere...but might be a Dyson ring?! ;) non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU |
John D Anthony Send message Joined: 4 Sep 15 Posts: 177 Credit: 1,303,001 RAC: 1 |
If it's artificial then perhaps they also designed it to function as a literal semaphore, blocking the light of their star with a pattern of repeating shadows that form a signal as they orbit. Just a thought. |
Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1387 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
Interesting that there were apparently no planets detected in orbit of this star. From what I read, essentially all stars are now believed to have planets. Further, in this case, such planets should probably have been detectable by the Kepler Space Telescope. We know that some sort of matter is moving around this star. Its planet-bearing plane seems to be nearly in line with Earth. The apparent absence of conspicuous planets may well be real. This would strengthen the supposition that such planets might have been converted into a partial Dyson Sphere. |
betreger Send message Joined: 29 Jun 99 Posts: 11416 Credit: 29,581,041 RAC: 66 |
Now that would be a real feat of engineering. |
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