Posted on 10/14/2015 10:26:14 PM PDT by Krosan
The Kepler space telescope's job is to find faraway planets that could potentially support life. But as The Atlantic reports, scientists are exploring the possibility that the telescope may have detected something even more exciting.
[...]
When a planet passes in front of a star, the star dims only for a few hours or days, and on a regular basis-- every 365 days, for example. But, at irregular intervals, the star KIC 8462852 darkens by as much as 20 percent, and it stays dark for anywhere between 5 and 80 days.
What could cause the weird light fluctuations? The researchers who discovered the behavior call it "bizarre."
In a recent paper, researchers have ruled out the possibility of faulty data or telescope jostling. Something appears to be blocking out the light, but it's not a planet, and the star is too old to be surrounded by the rings of debris that tend to circle around younger stars. Neither do the scientists think it could be caused by a recent collision.
That leaves just a few hypotheses. One is a cloud of comets that got pulled into orbit by a migrating star--if the comets are breaking up as they revolve around the star, that could cause the irregular pattern of dimming. The paper notes that this is the most promising explanation.
There is one other hypothesis, however.
“Aliens should always be the very last hypothesis you consider," Penn State astronomer Jason Wright told The Atlantic, "but this looked like something you would expect an alien civilization to build.”
(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...
Short answer... no.
It is probably more ghost cities built by Chinese real Estate developers
I can’t think of anyone who expects aliens to build something that has an efdect like this. This is just more budget porn.
Or even one of these calibrating its long range on the Hubble
Freeman Dyson and his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
This is not a Dyson sphere as it is not enclosing the star. We could not detect a Dyson sphere with this kind of telescope. I suspect this is extreme variability of the star’s output.
Assuming it was alien technology, it was tech they were using 1480 years ago. Think about that.
Shadow squares. The inner ring surrounding the sun contains shadow squares:
The outer ring is a ringworld.
The revolving shadow square ring is supposed to produce a regular series of days and nights for those living inside the ringworld.
Maybe it's damaged.
I’m guessing it is a huge solar panel that is up in outer space to supplement the planet’s power on cloudy days. Hence the variability of the panel blocking our ability to see their sun.
Someone should ask Al Gore. I’m guessing that he invented the device once he got done with the internet.
These aliens don’t seem friendly at all!
I’m pretty sure that was directed at Obama. It’s their way of saying they don’t care for him.
I just checked with a few friends who live among that alien civilization, and they communicated to me that the leaders there are staunch opponents of Obama’s “Universal” Healthcare.
What’s really interesting and potentially promising with this particular method of planet detecting is if or when a planet does move in from of its host star, a spectral analysis can be done to determine which chemicals are present in its atmosphere, if it does in fact have an atmosphere.
The spinning of the ring is also to simulate gravity, via the outward centrifugal force. The outward force will 'pin' people's feet to the inside perimeter wall.
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