Strange Twinkling Star Detected
Space November 18, 2018 (earth-chronicles.com)
• Astronomers have discovered a strange flickering star, resembling a Tabby star, in which case an alien mega-structure was supposed to be present, like a Dyson sphere. (see previous ExoNews article on the Tabby Star)
• The behavior of the new star is not associated with aliens. However, astronomer Roberto Saito of the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Florianópolis, Brazil, argues that it is extremely unusual. “We don’t know what the object is,” says Saito. “And this is interesting.”
• Saito and his colleagues were looking for supernovae and found a star flashing brightly. Then the star suddenly faded. From 2010 to 2018, the brightness of the star either increased, then decreased, without any regularity, reminiscent of Tabbi’s star. The team named the object VVV-WIT-07 (WIT is an abbreviation of “What is this?”).
• A team of astronomers intend to continue observing the star using larger telescopes like the 8.1-meter Gemini or ALMA telescope located in Chile.
• [Editor’s Note] Tabby’s Star is named after Tabetha Boyajian, the Louisana State University astrophysicist who discovered it on 2015. The stars luminosity changes, leading to speculation that it may be surrounded by anything from space debris to an alien-made Dyson sphere megastructure surrounding the star and harvesting its energy for space travel, manufacturing or other energy-consuming activities.
Astronomers who looked for supernovae, found an object that behaves more amazing than the star Tabbi.
Astronomers have discovered a strange flickering star, resembling a Tabby star, in which case an alien mega-structure was supposed to be present, like a Dyson sphere.
The idea of a megastructure, first proposed in 2015, was later refuted by data suggesting that the strange flickering is due to dust particles obscuring the star’s light. The behavior of the new star, it seems, is also not associated with aliens. However, astronomer Roberto Saito of the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Florianópolis, Brazil, argues that it is extremely unusual. Together with his colleagues, the scientist wrote an article about it, published in the arXiv.org preprint database.
“We don’t know what the object is,” says Saito. “And this is interesting.”
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