Actually, astronomers are watching Tabby's Star for further dips in brightness right now. The idea of a 700-750 day periodicity rests or very slim evidence. Boyajian, et al. reported that they saw no periodicities in the data. Future observations may turn up some regular repetition of dimming.
It appears that the WISE satellite should have been able to detect infrared radiation from a system with enough debris in it to obscure up to 22 percent of the star's light. If, instead, there is a partial Dyson swarm, made up of much larger, artificial objects, there could be far less infrared. Perhaps too little for WISE to have detected.

Actually, astronomers are watching Tabby's Star for further dips in brightness right now. The idea of a 700-750 day periodicity rests or very slim evidence. Boyajian, et al. reported that they saw no periodicities in the data. Future observations may turn up some regular repetition of dimming.
It appears that the WISE satellite should have been able to detect infrared radiation from a system with enough debris in it to obscure up to 22 percent of the star's light. If, instead, there is a partial Dyson swarm, made up of much larger, artificial objects, there could be far less infrared. Perhaps too little for WISE to have detected.

don't know if NEO-WISE is signed up on that object particular, 'cause it has been put to use searching NEOs...but it has made several images of the region...maybe some would show some infra-red...

but, saw some article about using infra-red telescopes & they haven't show any residual heat from planet collision...so that was ruled out! ;)

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Looking carefully over the graph of light output from Tabby's Star, there appears to be a certain regularity to the dips in the amount of light seen. In an enlarged portion of the graph for days 170 to 270 of observation, eight nearly regular dips are seem. They occur at intervals of a little over nine days.
This is probably not from a planet orbiting very near the star. The dips are of differing shapes, and are not seen in the graph before about day 197, or after day 262. It looks more like separate objects of various shapes and sizes. What, I wonder, are the odds of eight comet fragments arranging themselves in this manner?
This particular portion of the larger graph was not included in the Boyajian, et al. paper (Where's the Flux).
A link, below to an article by Dr. Jason Wright, which contains this portion of the graph. It's the third graph down, from the top of the article.
http://sites.psu.edu/astrowright/2015/10/15/kic-8462852wheres-the-flux/

Looking carefully over the graph of light output from Tabby's Star, there appears to be a certain regularity to the dips in the amount of light seen. In an enlarged portion of the graph for days 170 to 270 of observation, eight nearly regular dips are seem. They occur at intervals of a little over nine days.
This is probably not from a planet orbiting very near the star. The dips are of differing shapes, and are not seen in the graph before about day 197, or after day 262. It looks more like separate objects of various shapes and sizes. What, I wonder, are the odds of eight comet fragments arranging themselves in this manner?
This particular portion of the larger graph was not included in the Boyajian, et al. paper (Where's the Flux).
A link, below to an article by Dr. Jason Wright, which contains this portion of the graph. It's the third graph down, from the top of the article.
http://sites.psu.edu/astrowright/2015/10/15/kic-8462852wheres-the-flux/

thx, for an article & science...that Tabby's star is very interesting!

either we find out something new in science or we found a /(last resort) K2/K3 civ some 1500ly away - about the age of Romans rule the known World...it's a WIN-WIN situation! ;)

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Fans of the comic strip Candorville, and of SETI may have noticed the Nov. 8th strip with particular interest. Its author, Darrin Bell gave over most of the Sunday strip to a straight outline of the information known about KIC 846 2852. For those who didn't see it, it's linked below. Since Candorville appears in most major American newspapers, this is probably the widest presentation of information on Tabby's star, to date.
http://www.gocomics.com/candorville/2015/11/8

Fans of the comic strip Candorville, and of SETI may have noticed the Nov. 8th strip with particular interest. Its author, Darrin Bell gave over most of the Sunday strip to a straight outline of the information known about KIC 846 2852. For those who didn't see it, it's linked below. Since Candorville appears in most major American newspapers, this is probably the widest presentation of information on Tabby's star, to date.
http://www.gocomics.com/candorville/2015/11/8

it really looks like a lot of Borgs in that cartoon!
:D ;)

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

I see what you mean. I suspect those squares were meant to suggest solar panels.

I see what you mean. I suspect those squares were meant to suggest solar panels.

yeah...but a solar panel in space would be more like a rhomboid...

this is a cube...like a Borg cube! :D

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Is the ATA the only tool they've used so far? Green Bank is supposed to tune in, too, right?

---

The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Yes, it's hoped that some observing time for KIC 8462852, on the Green Bank Telescope, and/ or the Very Large Array, will be made available. The date of January, 2016 has been mentioned in connection with this.

NASA Says:

Strange Star Likely Swarmed by Comets

A star called KIC 8462852 has been in the news recently for unexplained and bizarre behavior. NASA's Kepler mission had monitored the star for four years, observing two unusual incidents, in 2011 and 2013, when the star's light dimmed in dramatic, never-before-seen ways. Something had passed in front of the star and blocked its light, but what?

Scientists first reported the findings in September, suggesting a family of comets as the most likely explanation. Other cited causes included fragments of planets and asteroids.

A new study using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope addresses the mystery, finding more evidence for the scenario involving a swarm of comets. The study, led by Massimo Marengo of Iowa State University, Ames, is accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/strange-star-likely-swarmed-by-comets

---

Comets in highly eccentric orbits of Tabby's star, so that their dust is now too cold to be detected. That's an interesting scenario. It covers the observations better than the previous cometary explanation.
I still have to wonder, though, what sort of comets would be opaque enough, over anything like a wide enough area to blot out up to 22 percent of a star's light.
Comets in our solar system that pass directly between Earth and Sun are reported to produce barely any dimming.

Yeah, I have my doubts too concerning the comet explanation. About the same as my feelings about it being a partial Dyson sphere.

---

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.

Comets in highly eccentric orbits of Tabby's star, so that their dust is now too cold to be detected. That's an interesting scenario. It covers the observations better than the previous cometary explanation.
I still have to wonder, though, what sort of comets would be opaque enough, over anything like a wide enough area to blot out up to 22 percent of a star's light.
Comets in our solar system that pass directly between Earth and Sun are reported to produce barely any dimming.

don't forget that they checked Tabby's star in IR...didn't find much more residual heat, which would explain impact of the stellar masses or planet-size...
;)

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Yes,

It seems to me that if they were comets they would have to be awfully big and awfully close. Was this alleged dimming seen by several other sites so that instrument failure or mal-adjustment might be ruled out??
I could more easily believe the latter rather than ascribe this phenomenon to "Comets".

Perhaps the object causing the dimming is very close to us rather than to the star 1500 light years away, maybe a piece of space junk orbiting our Earth ??

My Mantra: Whenever a problem is mystifying and won't yield to extensive attempts at resolution--the answer may be had by inspection.

Another ignorant, blow-hard rant by Daddio !!

Instrument error in the Kepler Space Telescope was carefully checked for and not found. Other stars observed at the same time did not display similar dimming.
Relatively nearby objects are also thought to be a very unlikely cause of the star's dimming. Multiple objects would have had to align exactly with the star, over periods of hundreds of days.
The new cometary scenario seems to require the break-up an extraordinarily large, dense comet into two major clumps of debris. Gravity prevails in holding each clump closely together, but somehow the two clumps become widely separated from each other, so much so that they crossed the star's face 700 days apart in their orbit. This all seems to require at least three extraordinary assumptions about the nature of the phenomenon.

Yes,

It seems to me that if they were comets they would have to be awfully big and awfully close. Was this alleged dimming seen by several other sites so that instrument failure or mal-adjustment might be ruled out??
I could more easily believe the latter rather than ascribe this phenomenon to "Comets".

Perhaps the object causing the dimming is very close to us rather than to the star 1500 light years away, maybe a piece of space junk orbiting our Earth ??

My Mantra: Whenever a problem is mystifying and won't yield to extensive attempts at resolution--the answer may be had by inspection.

Another ignorant, blow-hard rant by Daddio !!

this can be ruled out...as K2 mission was used in some of it's data, which is not on Earth!
;)

but, maybe something orbiting in a view-point...that's for sure...

hopefully, it's not a RAMA! LoL :D

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Instrument error in the Kepler Space Telescope was carefully checked for and not found. Other stars observed at the same time did not display similar dimming.
Relatively nearby objects are also thought to be a very unlikely cause of the star's dimming. Multiple objects would have had to align exactly with the star, over periods of hundreds of days.
The new cometary scenario seems to require the break-up an extraordinarily large, dense comet into two major clumps of debris. Gravity prevails in holding each clump closely together, but somehow the two clumps become widely separated from each other, so much so that they crossed the star's face 700 days apart in their orbit. This all seems to require at least three extraordinary assumptions about the nature of the phenomenon.

as Tabby's star is F3 star, with 50% larger than Sun...it would make habitable zone for a Earth-size planet around 1500d period...so 750d +/- 50d works out just fine for a Dyson swarm!

but, we have to "prove it"! ;)

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

today as I was walking to work...& watching a Venus & Mars on the clear sky...thinking about celestial bodies...1 idea came to my mind:

1. advanced civilization more advanced than us, should have populated "stable Lagrange points L4 & L5"...so much like what "L5 society" has been proposing!
so if half orbit is about 700-750d, or 1400-1500d full-orbit for an Earth-size planet in habitable zone of Tabby star (1.5 Sol)...than those objects could be seen 220-250d before a main planet & 220-250d after a main planet...
some similar discrepancy have been seen in previous observations with smaller dips in dimming of that star!
2. postulation that every 700-750d something dims the star, can be explained with populating L3 Lagrange point...which is not only possible, but plausible by any of the advanced species (humans included, when we start to populate the Space!)
even some advanced K2 civilizations might be possible to:
a) bring another planet to L3 Lagrange point & put it in stable orbit inside habitable zone of Tabby's star
b) restart magnetic core of the planet (like Mars) to make it habitable again for aliens
3. postulation of a "ring size Dyson swarm" is plausible, but making so large structure wouldn't be "efficient" & therefore not intelligent from advanced civilization...
or that function of a structure of that size eludes my intellect (which is also plausible)?! but still, a question remains: why would someone make a ring with radius of 1.8AU?! ;)

proposition to SETi team:
1. if Apr 2015 was missed as a main goal of a big dim of the Tabby star, then I urge all SETi scientist to look at Tabby star from now till Jan 2016...
2. & if another occurrence is scheduled in May 2017...then some previous observation should be made on Aug & Sep 2016 (7-8m before main dim, when L4 Lagrange points come to viewpoint)!
3. after May 2017, another occurrence of L5 Lagrange point will come in Jan&Feb 2018!
ruling out that there aren't any objects in L4 & L5 Lagrange points will also confirm that (most likely) there isn't an advanced civilization in Tabby star system...
;)

references:
- https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28191-citizen-scientists-catch-cloud-of-comets-orbiting-distant-star/
- http://sites.psu.edu/astrowright/2015/10/15/kic-8462852wheres-the-flux/

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Any civilization that is advanced enough to build structures big enough to block a measurable portion of it's star's light is one I hope never discovers us.

---

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.