Interesting emissions from distant star

rhombus · **on:** October 21, 2015, 01:16:03 AM

A paper published by SETI scientist Jason Wright elaborates on interesting emission patterns that have been seen in a distant star. The star, named KIC 1255754, showed irregular periods of dimming that were significant (20-40% at times) indicating a significant transit of the star, but the irregular time frames of coverage would rule out a planetary body being the cause, as orbiting bodies (by definition) follow a regular pattern. Likewise, the possibility of a massive comet swarm would seem unlikely, as the star system appears to be mature, and not a newly formed system where such instances would be expected. Not to mention, such a comet storm would have to be massive even by the standards of newly formed systems to cause such dimming.

For this reason, the scientists have acknowledged that there is a low possibility that the pattern of fading could be do to some unknown phenomenon, including the possibility of alien megastructures existing in the system. The media has widely covered the low possibility of this being due to a possible alien-constructed structure (such as a Dyson Sphere in the making), but unlike the sensationalist media in the US, the scientists are being cautious and waiting for further data before reaching any tentative conclusions.

It will be curious to see what the radio telescope survey will indicate. Obviously any interesting radio transmissions would indicate the most exciting possibility, but even if that survey is negative we still have an interesting phenomenon on our hands that has yet to be solved. I look forward to seeing what we discover from this astronomical phenomenon.

More information can be found here and here.

Kor · **Reply #1 on:** October 21, 2015, 08:18:42 AM

I do find it very interesting. I do wonder what it is. If it is an alien structure the government will cover it up.

vonboy · **Reply #2 on:** October 21, 2015, 08:55:10 AM

I heard about this a couple days ago. Really fascinating. Could be the cause of some new process that we don't yet know about. No idea what that process might be, but no known phenomenon anyone has proposed makes sense yet.

Weill be interesting to see what comes of this, though as NASA puts it, Aliens are always the very last possibility, after everything else under the sun has been tried, though it's always the very first conclusion people come up with, funnily enough.

rhombus · **Reply #3 on:** October 21, 2015, 09:39:14 AM

Quote from: Kor,Oct 21 2015 on 07:18 AM

If it is an alien structure the government will cover it up.

Considering that the US government cannot even protect its own emails from hacking, nor prevent leaks of big political news hours before a press conference, how would you propose they would cover up news of an alien civilization when everyone knows the star in question (so each nation with a radio telescope can search for themselves)? How would they manage to silence hundreds of scientists (many from nations who aren't our allies, and whose nations would love to expose the US in a mass cover-up) and prevent a leak on the scale of the massive NSA leak? How would they keep silent the thousands of government workers that are necessary to maintain such a cover-up? Furthermore, why would they cover up news of an alien civilization over a 1000 light years away? It isn't like the news of an alien civilization very far away from Earth (which most Americans would not be surprised by, considering how many believe in aliens) would cause a mass panic.

Were an alien super-structure to be confirmed then the SETI scientists would implement their contact protocols, which include the step of informing other scientists around the world immediately so that the signal can be obtained through other telescopes for verification (and also so the signal will not be lost as the Earth turns on its axis). Additionally, many SETI scientists have stated in the past that they have trusted persons who would be secretly informed of the news as a kind of fail-safe measure, so that those persons could spread the news in the event that the government tried to silence the news for any reason. Both of these steps in the process would make any attempted cover-up a failure. It might be an easier proposition to cover up a crashed spaceship in 1947 (which I don't believe happened in any case), but it is something else entirely to cover up a partial Dyson Sphere covering a freaking star. That probably isn't what is causing the dimming, but if it does turn out to be an alien megastructure then the government will have few options to hide it from anyone.

The Chronicler · **Reply #4 on:** October 21, 2015, 08:16:36 PM

One of the articles I read about this mention how unlikely it is that the transiting object(s) could be a partial Dyson sphere. On an astronomical timescale, such a construction project would last a very short time, much like the debris of a planetary collision, which has also been considered as a possible explanation. Another possibility is that if it is a partial Dyson sphere, then perhaps it was abandoned before it could be completed (which would be more probable, since ruins often last much longer than a construction project).

It's really just a big unknown, and we won't know for sure until scientists can collect more data.

Kor · **Reply #5 on:** October 22, 2015, 11:05:45 AM

I'm sure the government would try. Personally I do hope it is an alien thing, it would be neat, though I do agree that should be last on the list of possibilities. I wonder how that would shake folks up if it were an alien thing.

As for a dyson sphere, I read somewhere years ago, maybe in the 90's, that a complete dyson sphere would tear itself apart from the internal pressures so what would make sense is a series of islands instead of a complete perfect sphere. Though I guess each island could either have 1g due to being the mass of the earth, or it could be varying sizes and some could spin and simulate 1g that way. or whatever gravity they want it to have.

And as for communication protocols what if an alien civilization has enough technology where they have moved past using radio waves to communicate. I'm sure that is possible. I'm not an expert in what could be used to communicate. an rpg book I have of an rpg I use to play did have at higher tech levels what they called gravity pulse communicators, no idea if that could really be used to communicate.

vonboy · **Reply #6 on:** October 22, 2015, 06:08:52 PM

one thing that's been proposed instead of a dyson sphere (Which would probably never work for the reason Kor brought up) is a swarm of satellites orbiting a star. If you get enough of them, you can end up blocking a significant percentage of a star's light, and then be able to use that light energy for whatever power-hungry thingy you want. Plus, you'd be able to get a use out of it no matter how much or how little of it you've built.