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Study Finds That Humans Would Welcome the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life

June 26, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Gautam Peddada June 20, 2021 (collective-evolution.com)

• Researchers from Arizona State University have performed studies to find out how we humans will deal with it if we make contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life? Will we be terrified? Will we feel threatened? Will we be able to comprehend it? Will we accept it?

• On February 16th, ASU Assistant Professor of Psychology Michael Varnum presented the findings of the most recent study, “How Will We React to the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life?” at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Austin, Texas. Varnum’s conclusion? “If we came face to face with life outside of Earth, we would actually be pretty upbeat about it.”

• A previous pilot study focused on people’s reaction to the discovery alien microbial life on Mars, the periodic dimming around Tabby’s Star, and other Earth-like exoplanets in a star’s habitable zone that could support life as we know it. The pilot study discovered that the language used to depict these events elicited much more positive than negative feelings.

• In a second study, the researchers invited over 500 people to write about their potential reactions to the discovery of alien microbial life ‘considering their individual sentiments as well as those of mankind as a whole’. Again, participants’ replies revealed substantially more positive than negative emotions. “I’d be a little excited about the news,” one participant remarked.

• Varnum’s ASU group gave an additional sample of over 500 people split into two groups. Group One participants read a previous article from The New York Times on probable evidence of ancient microbial life on a Mars meteorite. Group Two participants were given another New York Times article about the development of synthetic human-made life in a lab.

• The responses were considerably more positive about finding of microbial alien life than they were about developing synthetic life. With regard to other planets hosting life, one participant stated, “It’s an intriguing and fascinating discovery that might be only the beginning.”

• Varnum also examined recent media coverage that the interstellar ‘Oumuamua’ asteroid is actually a spacecraft. Here, too, Varnum discovered more positive than negative emotions, implying that humans may react favorably to news of the finding of sentient life elsewhere in the cosmos. “[T]aken together, this implies that if we find out we’re not alone, we’ll take the news rather well.”

As the possibilities of a non-human intellect being present on Earth increase on a daily basis, one

critical question must be addressed: How will we deal with it if we make contact? Will we be terrified if we feel threatened? Will we accept it? Will we be able to comprehend it? Or will we dismiss it as just another item to cope with in our increasingly fast-paced world?

Researchers from Arizona State University performed a study to try to find out the answer, and the article is titled “How Will We React to the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life?”

The researchers looked at how language was used in media coverage of previous announcements of this kind, with an emphasis on alien microbial life (Pilot Study). A large online sample was asked to write about their own and humanity’s reaction to a hypothetical announcement of such a discovery, and another large online sample was asked to read and respond to a news article about the discovery of fossilised extraterrestrial microbial life in a Martian meteorite.

“If we came face to face with life outside of Earth, we would actually be pretty upbeat about it,” said Arizona State University Assistant Professor of Psychology Michael Varnum.
Varnum presented the study’s findings on February 16 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Austin, Texas.

The pilot study’s articles focused on the 1996 discovery of possibly fossilised extraterrestrial Martian microbes, the 2015 discovery of periodic dimming around Tabby’s Star, thought to indicate the presence of an artificially constructed “Dyson sphere,” and the 2017 discovery of Earth-like exoplanets in a star’s habitable zone. The pilot study discovered that the language used to depict these events elicited much more positive than negative feelings.

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NASA’s Kepler Telescope Discovers a Colossal Artificial Structure Orbiting a Star in Our Vicinity

October 29, 2019
ExoNews Editor

Listen to “E146 NASA's Kepler Telescope Discovers a Colossal Artificial Structure Orbiting a Star in Our Vicinity” on Spreaker.

Article by Steve October 15, 2015 (ufoholic.com)

• A paper submitted by Tabitha Boyajian, an astronomer at Yale, to the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (in 2015) described a particular star named KIC 8462852 orbiting only 1,500 light years from Earth. “… KIC 8462852 (aka “Tabby’s Star”), was observed by the Kepler Space Telescope (image above) to undergo irregularly shaped, aperatic dips in flux down to below the twenty percent level.” “We’d never seen anything like this star. It was really weird. (But the data) checked out.”

• The study mostly focused on two interesting anomalies of the star. The first event was recorded between days 788 and 795 of the Kepler mission and showed a single transit causing a star brightness drop-off of 15 percent. The second event was recorded between days 1510 to 1570 and showed a burst of several transits with a brightness dip of up to 22 percent. The transiting objects have to be extremely big.

• Scientists are now trying to point a radio antenna at KIC 8462852 in order to pick up their television shows to solve the riddle. Meanwhile, a second paper is being drafted around the possibility of the light obstruction being caused a colossal artificial device engineered by advanced aliens.

• Considering that our galaxy has existed for more than 13 billion years, it’s not hard to imagine that an alien civilization may be out there, possessing technology that allows them to build megastructures around stars. Jason Wright, a fellow astronomer at Penn State said, “This looked like something you would expect an alien civilization to build.” Researchers are hypothesizing the possibility of a mega-engineered project created by a Type 2 alien civilization on the Kardashev scale. With a vast shell or series of rings surrounding a star, a Dyson sphere-like structure could use all the available energy radiating from a star.

Besides Kepler’s ability of finding small, rocky worlds orbiting distant stars, it can also detect different space phenomenon like stellar flares, star spots and dusty planetary rings.

This time however, Kepler detected the signal of a supposed vast artificial structure orbiting a star only 1,500 light years away from Earth.

After finishing all plausible explanations, scientists now believe that this complex structure might be an artificial construction made by an advanced alien civilization way up on the Kardashev scale of comparison.

This megastructure works like a supersized solar array orbiting around its host star, stocking the energy and sending it back to the source. The size of the structure is so grand that it’s blocking a considerable fraction of starlight as it spins around its host.

Normally all the exoplanets discovered by Kepler have a typical planet-shape, meaning they are round. This time however, the telescope detected something that isn’t round and behaves unnatural.

A paper has been submitted to the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in which a particular star named KIC 8462852 is described.

OVER THE DURATION OF THE KEPLER MISSION, KIC 8462852 WAS OBSERVED TO UNDERGO IRREGULARY SHAPED, APERIODIC DIPS IN FLUX DOWN TO BELOW THE TWENTY PERCENT LEVEL.

WE’D NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS STAR, IT WAS REALLY WEIRD. WE THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE BAD DATA OR MOVEMENT ON THE SPACECRAFT, BUT EVERYTHING CHECKED OUT. – TABETHA BOYAJIAN, RESEARCHER AT YALE UNIVERSITY

Studies mostly focused on two interesting anomalies at KIC 8462852, one that was recorded between days 788 and 795 of the Kepler mission and between days 1510 to 1570.

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If Aliens Are Flashing Laser Beams at Us, We Now Have a Way to Detect Them

August 13, 2019
ExoNews Editor

Listen to “E66 8-13-19 If Aliens Are Flashing Laser Beams” on Spreaker.

Article by Tim Childers August 2, 2019 (livescience.com)

• The $100 million 10-year project funded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, called the “Breakthrough Listen” project, is the most extensive SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) program in history. The project, which began in 2015, has surveyed over 1,000 stars within 160 light-years away from Earth for signs of alien radio signals, with no positive results.

• ‘Breakthrough Listen’ announced that its team will begin looking for new signs of alien technology using the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS), consisting of four 12-meter optical telescopes at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Amado, Arizona. Using VERITAS, astronomers will begin scanning the night sky for nanosecond flashes of light, known as “fast optical pulses”, from nearby stars indicating a new class of alien communication. Said Andrew Siemion, director of Berkeley’s SETI Research Center, “Optical communication has already been used by NASA to transmit high-definition images to Earth from the moon, so there’s a reason to believe that an advanced civilization might use a scaled-up version of this technology for interstellar communication.”

• VERITAS searched for such laser pulses from the mysteriously dimming Tabby’s Star after some speculated there could be an alien megastructure surrounding it. If Tabby’s Star pointed powerful lasers at the Earth, VERITAS could detect them. Less powerful lasers could be detected from closer star systems. David Williams, a member of the VERITAS and professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said, “It is impressive how well-suited the VERITAS telescopes are for this project, since they were built only with the purpose of studying very-high-energy gamma rays…”.

• At the VERITAS initiative’s launch, physicist Stephen Hawking said, “[I]n an infinite universe, there must be other occurrences of life… [P]erhaps intelligent life might be watching these lights of ours… Or do our lights wander a lifeless cosmos, unseen beacons announcing that, here on one rock, the universe discovered its existence?”

• SETI’s Russian benefactor, Yuri Milner says, “[O]ur philosophy is to look in as many places, and in as many ways, as we can. VERITAS expands our range of observation even further.”

• [Editor’s Note] SETI is now using a $100 million telescope array to search for lights and lasers emanating from extraterrestrial sources in the cosmos. So much money is being wasted on this Deep State disinformation program which is only meant to make the public believe that if there were any extraterrestrial beings and civilizations to be found, such equipment could not miss them, when in reality the extraterrestrial presence is all around us. Of course the Breakthrough Listen project will fail because the Deep State’s true agenda is to deny the existence of extraterrestrials. Or will it be used by the Deep State to claim success and control the narrative through a new disinformation campaign when the exposure of the extraterrestrial presence becomes imminent?

Are aliens using super powerful flashlights to get our attention? Astronomers think there’s a chance they are.
Since the invention of the radio, humans have been silently listening to the stars, wondering if we are alone in the universe. But if intelligent alien life does exist, the extraterrestrials could be using other forms of technology to communicate. Astronomers are beginning to not only listen to the cosmos but also gaze toward it for other signs of alien tech: laser beams.

Breakthrough Listen, the most extensive Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program in history, announced that its team will begin looking for new signs of alien technology using the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Amado, Arizona.

“When it comes to intelligent life beyond Earth, we don’t know where it exists or how it communicates,” Yuri Milner, billionaire particle physicist and founder of Breakthrough Listen, said in a statement. “So our philosophy is to look in as many places, and in as many ways, as we can. VERITAS expands our range of observation even further.”

Using VERITAS, astronomers will begin scanning the night sky for nanosecond flashes of light from nearby stars. Like a lighthouse beacon for the cosmos, these brief pulses of optical light would outshine any nearby stars and could indicate a method of alien communication.

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What Is a Dyson Sphere?

August 12, 2019
ExoNews Editor

Listen to “E65 8-12-19 What Is a Dyson Sphere?” on Spreaker.

Article by Adam Mann August 1, 2019 (space.com)

• In 1960, British-American theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson theorized that as an intelligent alien species’ population increased by 1% per year, their energy needs would grow exponentially becoming a trillion times larger in just 3,000 years. After developing and saturating the local moons and planets in their solar system, they may embark on a longer-term solution: The Dyson sphere.

• A Dyson sphere is a structure with platforms orbiting in tight formation that surrounds and encloses a larger celestial body, such as a gas giant planet like Jupiter or the system’s star itself, like a shell. Such an artificial structure would offer plenty of living space and energy production, drawing from the gas planet or star’s radiation. But as the Dyson sphere absorbed radiation, thereby dimming the planet from an outside observer’s perspective, Dyson theorized that the structure would need to re-radiate this energy through infrared wavelengths to avoid melting the structure itself. Therefore, a Dyson sphere would emit a bright signature in the infrared spectrum while being invisible to the human eye.

• This infrared radiation is considered a type of ‘technosignature’ that astronomers can use to detect an advanced civilization. Since the 1960’s, researchers have scanned infrared maps of the night sky in hopes of spotting a Dyson sphere, without success. But in 2015, Yale University astronomer Tabetha Boyajian did find a distant star that dimmed and flickered. Astronomers speculated that “Tabby’s Star” could be a partially built Dyson sphere. Because other astronomical experiments could not find other technosignatures from the star, scientists now think the object’s light patterns have some kind of non-alien explanation.

• In 1937, Olaf Stapledon first described a “gauze of light traps” surrounding a star system to utilize its solar energy in his novel “Star Maker”. Freeman Dyson acknowledged that this sparked his concept of a Dyson sphere. In 1992, a Dyson sphere was depicted in an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

A Dyson sphere is a theoretical mega-engineering project that encircles a star with platforms orbiting in tight formation. It is the ultimate solution for living space and energy production, providing its creators ample surface area for habitation and the ability to capture every bit of solar radiation emanating from their central star.

Why build a Dyson sphere?

Why would anyone construct such a bizarre monstrosity? According to British-American theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, who first speculated about these putative structures in 1960, an intelligent alien species might consider the undertaking after settling on some moons and planets in their local stellar neighborhood. As their population increased, these extraterrestrials would start to consume ever-greater amounts of energy.

Assuming this alien society’s populace and industry grew at a modest 1% per year, Dyson’s calculations suggested that the aliens’ area and energy needs would grow exponentially, becoming a trillion times larger in just 3,000 years. Should their solar system contain a Jupiter-size body, the species’ engineers could try to figure out how to take the planet apart and spread its mass in a spherical shell.

By building structures at twice the Earth-sun distance, the material would be sufficient to construct a huge number of orbiting platforms 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters) thick, allowing the aliens to live on their star-facing surface. “A shell of this thickness could be made comfortably habitable, and could contain all the machinery required for exploiting the solar radiation falling onto it from the inside,” Dyson wrote.

But after absorbing and exploiting the solar energy, the structure would eventually have to reradiate the energy or else it would build up, causing the sphere to eventually melt, according to Dyson. This means that, to a distant observer, the light of a star wrapped in a Dyson sphere might appear dimmed or even entirely darkened — depending on how dense the orbiting platforms were — while glowing curiously bright in infrared wavelengths that aren’t visible to the naked eye.

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The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Heats Up

March 25, 2019
ExoNews Editor

by Dirk Schulze-Makuch March 11, 2019 (airspacemag.com)

• A remarkable meeting occurred over the weekend of March 9-10 in Tutzing, Germany, just outside of Munich. Its theme: Are we alone in the Universe? Eminent German astrobiologists and scientists were invited to give presentations, including Karl Menten, Director of the Max Planck Institute, Gerhard Haerendel, recipient of the Allan D. Emil Memorial Award for pioneering achievements in space sciences, Andreas Losch from the Institute of Systematic Theology at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and the article’s author, Dirk Schulze-Makuch, who spoke on the Cosmic Zoo hypothesis.

• The meeting was hosted by the evangelical academy, underscoring the continuing interest of religious groups in the possibility of extraterrestrial life and what it might mean for faith communities. The Catholic Church appears to me to be the most interested group of all. In 2014 the Vatican Observatory even co-hosted a conference in Arizona on whether we are alone in the Universe.

• Earlier this year, the discovery of a new source of Fast Radio Bursts suggested that they could be messages from advanced technological civilizations. Tabby’s Star, which suddenly dips its light curve, has been linked to alien megastructures.

• Last November, Avi Loeb of Harvard University suggested that ‘Oumuamua’, the first object seen to enter our Solar System from interstellar space, could be a lightsail built by an advanced intelligent civilization. Its motion seems to indicate that something other than simple gravitation might be at work.

• The longest unresolved enigma is the Wow! signal, which has all the hallmarks of an alien transmission but unfortunately was only received once. It may have been a transmission from one starship to another, or perhaps from a ship to its home base, and Earth just happened to be in the way.

• However likely or unlikely these anomalies, it is clear that interest in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is on the rise again, as shown not only by this latest conference near Munich, but by NASA’s renewed interest in what’s now called “technosignatures” of advanced life. Many people, beyond just scientists, understand what a detection of extraterrestrial intelligent life elsewhere would mean – nothing less than a complete re-assessment of our place in the Universe.

A remarkable meeting occurred outside Munich, Germany this past weekend. Its theme: Are we alone in the Universe? The most eminent German-speaking scientists in the field of astrobiology were invited to give keynote presentations, which included talks by Karl Menten, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy, on the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life; by Gerhard Haerendel, recipient of the Allan D. Emil Memorial Award for pioneering achievements in space sciences, on messaging to extraterrestrial civilizations (METI); and by Andreas Losch from the Institute of Systematic Theology at the University of Bern, Switzerland, on the scientific, philosophical and theological consequences of the presence of extraterrestrial civilizations. I also gave a talk, on the possibility of complex life on other planets based on the Cosmic Zoo hypothesis.

The meeting was hosted by the evangelical academy in Tutzing, Germany, underscoring the continuing interest of religious groups in the possibility of extraterrestrial life and what it might mean for faith communities. The Catholic Church appears to me to be the most interested group of all. In recent years I’ve seen many of its representatives at scientific meetings. In 2014 the Vatican Observatory (yes, they have their own observatory) even co-hosted a conference in Arizona on whether we are alone in the Universe.

So, are we?

If you were to ask Avi Loeb of Harvard University, he would likely direct your attention to ‘Oumuamua, the first object seen to enter our Solar System from interstellar space. Last November Loeb pointed to six strange facts about ‘Oumuamua, suggesting that it could be an artificial object, possibly a lightsail built by an advanced intelligent civilization. Most puzzling of all is its shape: long, shiny and unusually thin for a rock. And its motion seems to indicate that something other than simple gravitation might be at work.

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Could a Dyson Sphere Harness the Full Power of the Sun?

March 7, 2019
ExoNews Editor

by Seeker February 24, 2019 (seeker.com)

• Physicist Freeman Dyson popularized the concept of a structure soaking up 100 % of a star’s (like our Sun) and converting it into useful energy, known as a Dyson Sphere. Dyson claimed that looking for signs of massive structures capturing the power of a host star in distant solar systems could lead us to advanced extraterrestrial civilizations.

• Some believe that aliens might already be using a Dyson Sphere on a mysterious dimming star known as Tabby’s star, theorizing that the dimming is a sign of a structure surrounding the star. Other astronomers say that the dimming is likely just caused by dust.

• But astro-engineers say that a Sun-encircling sphere would be impractical, as the environmental and gravitational stresses of a solid structure around the Sun would certainly destroy the shell, even if we had the materials needed to do it. They suggest that the answer may be a ‘Dyson Swarm’ – a large number of advanced solar panels orbiting the Sun, capturing its light from all directions, and continuously transmitting the energy back to Earth.

• Futurists say building a Dyson Swarm would require extreme measures like mining Mercury for materials – eventually destroying that planet. But a successfully implemented Dyson Swarm could extend humanity’s survival in the solar system and provide the power needed to colonize other planets.

In a thought experiment, Physicist Freeman Dyson popularized the concept of a structure that could trap 100 percent of a star’s energy. Dyson claimed that advanced civilizations or extraterrestrials might use massive structures to capture the power of their host star. He said that looking for signs of these structures would lead us to other lifeforms. This concept inspired what later became known as a Dyson Sphere – a hypothetical megastructure that would surround the Sun, soaking up its light and converting it into useful energy.

Today, there are a few different Dyson inspired designs. The classic Dyson Shell, for instance, is often portrayed in sci-fi works. The solid structure, the size of a planetary orbit, contains solar habitats, each powered by their host star’s light. But this megastructure would be impossible for humanity to pull off due to the fact that the materials needed to build it don’t exist. On top of that, environmental and gravitational stresses of the Sun would destroy the shell.

Instead, some astro engineers believe a Dyson Swarm is the most practical design for our solar system. This concept would require the construction of an army of advanced solar panels which would orbit the Sun, capturing its light from all directions. The solar panels would collect the Sun’s radiation and continuously transmit the energy wirelessly back to Earth. Still, futurists say building a Dyson Swarm would require extreme measures like mining Mercury for materials – eventually destroying the planet. But if we manage to successfully create a sun sucking megastructure, it will extend humanity’s survival in the solar system and provide the power needed to colonize other planets. Considering all the advanced technology needed to make this happen though, it will be a very long time until any sort of Dyson Sphere takes the leap from science fiction to reality.

But, like Freeman Dyson, some people believe that aliens might already be using Dyson Sphere-like structures. And they point to a mysterious dimming star – known as Tabby’s Star – as potential evidence. Believers say that the dimming is a sign of a structure surrounding the star. While many astronomers say that the dimming is likely just caused by dust. But in the far-fetched chance that there is an advanced civilization out there soaking up all the energy in the universe, let’s just hope that they’ll use their power for good, not evil.

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Alien Megastructure Star: Dimming Of Tabby’s Star Sets New Record

April 14, 2018
ExoNews Editor

by Allan Adamson March 27, 2018 (techtimes.com)

KIC 8462852, also known as Tabby’s Star, has dimmed again. Researchers say that it dipped in brightness more dramatically than ever.

• In 2011, the Kepler Space Telescope observed a star that dimmed as much as 22 percent. The star is KIC 8462852, also known as Tabby’s Star named for Tabetha Boyajian, the Louisiana State University astrophysicist who discovered the star. Since then it has been observed to sporadically dim in brightness, then return to normal.

• On March 16, 2018, Boyajian and colleagues recorded the “…deepest dip we have observed since the Kepler Mission in 2013! WOW!!” By March 22nd, the star’s brightness increased rapidly and was nearly back to normal when it started to dim again on March 26th, even moreso than the previous week and setting a new record.

• A planet passing between a star and Earth will typically cause the dimming of the host star by 1 percent or less and at regular intervals. What makes the Tabby’s Star different from many others is that it dims at unpredictable intervals and at varying degrees.

• A popular theory of the cause of Tabby’s Star’s erratic dimming is the orbit of an alien megastructure around the star, such as an array of solar panels created by an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization. Other theories involve the star devouring a nearby planet, or interference by a comet, or interstellar dust.

Louisiana State University astrophysicist Tabetha Boyajian, who discovered the star, and colleagues, revealed that the star has dimmed by at least 5 percent and possibly 10 percent.

The scientists said that Tabby’s star, also called “alien megastructure star” due to its bizarre behaviors suspected to be associated with an intelligent alien civilization, started to dim on March 16 and then returned to normal.

Boyajian and colleagues said that the dip in brightness was the largest observed dip in the star since 2013.

“On Friday (2018 March 16) we noted the last data taken were significantly down compared to normal,” the researchers wrote in their Tabby Star observation blog. “This is the deepest dip we have observed since the Kepler Mission in 2013! WOW!!”

By March 22, the star’s brightness increased rapidly and was nearly back to normal but it started to dim again on March 26.

“Today we have some very big news – data taken at TFN last night show the flux is down 5 percent,” Boyajian and colleagues reported on March 26. “Looks like we beat the record set just last week on the deepest dip observed since Kepler!”

In 2011, the Kepler Space Telescope observed that the star dimmed as much as 22 percent. Other dimming events also occurred throughout 2017.

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Scientists Wrong In Ruling Out ‘Alien Megastructure’ Around Dimming Star

February 5, 2018
ExoNews Editor

by Norman Byrd January 21, 2018 (inquisitr.com)

• “Tabby’s Star”, or KIC 8462852, is over 1000 light years from Earth and displays four separate dips in the star’s brightness. It made news in 2017 that its dimming might be due to an alien megastructure or some type of artificial construct of alien design such as a ‘Dyson Sphere’ partially covering the star.

• Now, in an article posted to Phys.org, one of the lead co-authors of the study, the star’s namesake Tabetha Boyajian, notes that the dimming and brightening of Tabby’s Star is due to a massive cloud of dust and is “not opaque, as would be expected from a planet or alien megastructure.” She and her co-authors say that an artificial alien structure can be ruled out because if it were a solid megastructure, the wavelength depth of the dimming would more consistent.

• But couldn’t an alien structure surrounding the system’s star not necessarily be of a solid material, but rather made of a type of material that would allow some filtering of the light? Or what if it is only partially completed and therefore not consistent in its dimming? It is, therefore, wrong to strictly rule out the possibility that the star’s dimming might be due to an alien construct around the star. On the other hand, it could be simply due causes that are natural in the cosmos, as the astrophysicists now say.

One of the continuing story subtexts in all the recent deep space and exoplanet discovery articles, not to mention those covering the accumulating data from planets and moons within our own Solar System, is that the existence of alien life cannot be ruled out. As an exception to this, in further study of Tabby’s Star, the mysterious dimming star KIC 8462852, it was revealed that the cause of the dimming effect was most likely due to a natural phenomenon, and it could be ruled out that the strange effect was caused by an alien megastructure or some artificial construct of alien design.

But is that correct?

To be precise, according to an article posted to Phys.org, one of the lead co-authors of the study, star namesake Louisiana State University’s Tabetha Boyajian, noted that the dimming and brightening of KIC 8462852 was due to a massive cloud of dust and was “not opaque, as would be expected from a planet or alien megastructure.” The conclusion was derived from perusing months of observation data of the so-called “dimming star” — which is over a thousand light years from Earth — that captured four separate dips in the object’s brightness. By studying the various wavelengths, it was determined that the effect, if it were a more solid or opaque obstruction, would present itself in the dimming data as a similarity in wavelength depth.

Penn State’s Jason Wright, also a co-author of the study, supports Boyajian’s conclusion. He writes in his blog, AstroWright, that the new study suggests “we now have no reason to think alien megastructures have anything to do with the dips of Tabby’s Star.”

Although they may be correct, Boyajian and Wright’s conclusion could well be flawed in the thinking that an extraterrestrial civilization so advanced to be able to build an alien megastructure that could surround (or even partially surround) something as large as a star would be constrained to using materials that might not allow some filtering. That is, not getting similar wavelengths or some wavelength uniformity from the dimming star data might not actually rule out an alien megastructure if such a massive construct was built using materials that allowed at least some of the star’s light to pass through.

And then there is the possibility that the dimming is caused by a structure that is itself only partially complete.

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Tag: Tabby’s Star