Astronomers may have found giant alien 'megastructures' orbiting a star in the Milky Way

[StrandedonEarth]

Well. Above or below the plane of the galaxy would be the best direction to go to escape a galactic core explosion. So it must be the Pak in the process of building a Ringworld!

[Jovus]

Well. Above or below the plane of the galaxy would be the best direction to go to escape a galactic core explosion.

What makes you think that?

[PB666]

Well. Above or below the plane of the galaxy would be the best direction to go to escape a galactic core explosion. So it must be the Pak in the process of building a Ringworld!

In that case its A Polar Jet and its bout to spawn the next universe, arrrrgggggghhhhhhh, everyone run........

well no, maybe not, just a little dark screedy gas, maybe the dwarf ate to many onions for dinner.

[Kryten]

What makes you think that?

In space, explosions occur in planes, as shown in the following figure from Lucas (1974).

[smjjames]

I'm just gonna say that it would be nice if the article actually had pictures of the observation, or even pictures of the data if it's not a direct visual observation.

I mean, you know how us gamers say 'pics/screenshots or it didn't happen?' sometimes? It's like that.

[Aethon]

... pictures of the data.

[Mr Shifty]

In space, explosions occur in planes, as shown in the following figure from Lucas (1974).

http://www.st-v-sw.net/images/Wars/Special/SF/AlderaanBlastg2k-24.jpg

I believe Lucas filmed that event in 1977, not 1974, but in the original film he produced, there was no image of a Praxis ring around the explosion. The ring was added in 1997 in order to "enhance" his original imagery. You can view the difference in this documentary here.

Edited October 15, 2015 by Mr Shifty

[problemecium]

Heh, I should have known it was only a matter of time before this ended up in The Science Labs.

First things first, to address Mr. Shifty's and Kryten's disagreement, explosions in space don't preferentially form planes. If anything, most of the explosions we can see from here (supernovae, gamma ray bursts, T Tauri mass ejections, etc.) seem to prefer polarized jet shapes. The reason debris would form a plane is because it would not be gravitationally bound (hence debris, rather than one big block) and because the pieces are all in slightly different orbits, they'd spread out as they circle the parent body to form a ring system, as is common with clouds of debris in KSP for instance.

On the topic of the purported megastructure, I don't want to jump to conclusions either, but I do hope they find more compelling evidence because the Fermi Paradox has dogged our civilization for uncomfortably long at this point.

[Mitchz95]

First things first, to address Mr. Shifty's and Kryten's disagreement, explosions in space don't preferentially form planes. If anything, most of the explosions we can see from here (supernovae, gamma ray bursts, T Tauri mass ejections, etc.) seem to prefer polarized jet shapes. The reason debris would form a plane is because it would not be gravitationally bound (hence debris, rather than one big block) and because the pieces are all in slightly different orbits, they'd spread out as they circle the parent body to form a ring system, as is common with clouds of debris in KSP for instance.

I think they were joking.

[Deadpangod3]

the biggest dip has many smaller dips around it, IMHO it may be a planet with many orbiting moons.

[Aethon]

They must be huge. They knock the flux of an F class star down 22 % from our perspective.

UKIRT image for KIC 8462852 and another bright star for comparison, showing that it has a distinct protrusion to the left (east). For reference, the grid lines in the image are 1000 × 1000. Credit: Tabetha Boyajian et al.

Keck AO H-band image for KIC 8462852 showing the companion was detected with a 200 separation and a magnitude difference ∆H = 3.8. Credit: Tabetha Boyajian et al..

Some more information: http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=34269

[YNM]

@ guys commenting over lack of paper link in the newswire : Just google the name of the star, paper available in arxiv. They didn't point anything megastructural or such in the paper.

My own opinion : Some of the figures in the paper looks like more along intrinsic changes to me - graphs in Zooniverse's planet hunters pretty much do the same all along. But the most interesting one is the 0.75 dip (25% reduction) which yields an occulter radius at maximum to be a half of the star radius. Just hoping that it's an actually interstellar (or other star) objects than local objects !

[Rakaydos]

Guys, it's not someone building a dyson sphere.

It's the wreckage of a -destroyed- dyson sphere. Because you cant hide a dyson sphere from other civilizations, and it cant dodge.

[Aethon]

Kepler data show huge dips in brightness, up to 22 percent in the star. The bottom axis is days after an arbitrary date, and the bottom two panels are close-ups of the top one, centered near 800 days (left) and 1,500 days (right). The average amount of starlight over time is set equal to 1 for ease of display.

More info and I found the paper without the paywall.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2015/10/14/weird_star_strange_dips_in_brightness_are_a_bit_baffling.html

Planet Hunters X.KIC 8462852 – Where’s the flux?

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.03622v1.pdf

[vger]

Space sure has become an interesting place in the past couple of years. Well, it was always interesting. But lately... wow. Am I imagining this, or has the general public actually been getting excited by it lately?

[PB666]

Space sure has become an interesting place in the past couple of years. Well, it was always interesting. But lately... wow. Am I imagining this, or has the general public actually been getting excited by it lately?

This thing has been known about for 2 or 3 years, I saw all the links showing up a few days back, but, really, some reporter got a hold of the hype and started making a big deal, and the hype train followed behind.

[andrew123]

This thing has been known about for 2 or 3 years, I saw all the links showing up a few days back, but, really, some reporter got a hold of the hype and started making a big deal, and the hype train followed behind.

I hope it's real. That way, humanity can rest knowing that not all civilizations are doomed to commit suicide.

[_Augustus_]

If this thing is real, we can't really communicate with them, though. They are 1481 ly away.

Also this star is rather hot for a habitable zone, F3V. While it's certainly possible that it has life, it's interesting.

Maybe it's not their home system but rather a nice hot star for them to get juice for their IWarpShips.

[fairytalefox]

DON'T PANIC.

Once upon a time there were canals on Mars. Everyone and their mom saw them with their own eyes. There were tons of pictures with these canals. The pictures are still here, and they are the same, but there are no canals on them anymore. Apparently everyone and their mom tend to see things on even slightly unfamiliar pictures. Goodbye, canals.

Then, there was a man's face on Mars. Again, everyone and their mom etc etc etc... Again, these pictures are still here, but etc etc etc... Goodbye, face.

Now, there's an artificial structure near a distant star. You can see it with your own eyes, you can even show it's picture to your mom. No doubt, THESE aliens are real!

...come on.

[andrew123]

DON'T PANIC.

Once upon a time there were canals on Mars. Everyone and their mom saw them with their own eyes. There were tons of pictures with these canals. The pictures are still here, and they are the same, but there are no canals on them anymore. Apparently everyone and their mom tend to see things on even slightly unfamiliar pictures. Goodbye, canals.

Then, there was a man's face on Mars. Again, everyone and their mom etc etc etc... Again, these pictures are still here, but etc etc etc... Goodbye, face.

Now, there's an artificial structure near a distant star. You can see it with your own eyes, you can even show it's picture to your mom. No doubt, THESE aliens are real!

...come on.

Doesn't mean it's implausible.

[Streetwind]

DON'T PANIC.

Once upon a time there were canals on Mars. Everyone and their mom saw them with their own eyes. There were tons of pictures with these canals. The pictures are still here, and they are the same, but there are no canals on them anymore. Apparently everyone and their mom tend to see things on even slightly unfamiliar pictures. Goodbye, canals.

Then, there was a man's face on Mars. Again, everyone and their mom etc etc etc... Again, these pictures are still here, but etc etc etc... Goodbye, face.

Now, there's an artificial structure near a distant star. You can see it with your own eyes, you can even show it's picture to your mom. No doubt, THESE aliens are real!

...come on.

Yes, but the fun thing about this is:

Even if there are no aliens, something really strange is going on around that star. Something we cannot explain by any natural means other than an absurdly improbable coincidence (probably roughly as improbable as detecting sentient life in the first place). Whatever it is, it is very much worth studying, and that will teach us something we cannot even imagine right now. So I'm all in favor of getting all sorts of telescopes pointed thataways, no matter the outcome

[Slam_Jones]

Would it be possible it's just a very, very large planet that somehow didn't become a sun (if I remember correctly (which I may well not), a gas giant with enough mass will spontaneously begin a fission reaction, making it a star. Would this happen with an extremely large solid planet?), orbited by a smattering of moons? Something that size would easily attract a lot of bodies, even if only a small fraction remain in orbit.

It's very exciting to think that it's a manufactured construct, but I wouldn't be so sure yet.

[Albert VDS]

It's generally theorized that as a civilization advances and it discovers radio technology, there will be about a century's worth of frenzied radio activity - maybe two at most. Afterwards, the civilization moves on to more efficient methods for long-disctance communication, like laser or quantum entanglement or what have you.

There are as many reasons why we might not discover a signal as there are reason why would could discover it; they could have switch communication technologies, they could have stayed with radio, they could have skipped it altogether, they keep it running to let others know they exist, etc. But I agree that it's more likely to be a natural occurrence which is dimming the stars light.

Also quantum entanglement can't be used for communications.

[fairytalefox]

Yes, but the fun thing about this is:

Even if there are no aliens, something really strange is going on around that star. Something we cannot explain by any natural means other than an absurdly improbable coincidence (probably roughly as improbable as detecting sentient life in the first place). Whatever it is, it is very much worth studying, and that will teach us something we cannot even imagine right now. So I'm all in favor of getting all sorts of telescopes pointed thataways, no matter the outcome

The universe is full of weird things. I highly appreciate studying them, of course, I can even live with one of these things making a news headline. What I can not appreciate is panic. I'm pretty sure, in a year or two this whatever-you-call-it will become 'oh one of these outdated news, let's watch a new reality show instead'. I just know it So why panicking? Let's think about things that will be important tomorrow.

[Rakaydos]

Would it be possible it's just a very, very large planet that somehow didn't become a sun (if I remember correctly (which I may well not), a gas giant with enough mass will spontaneously begin a fission reaction, making it a star. Would this happen with an extremely large solid planet?), orbited by a smattering of moons? Something that size would easily attract a lot of bodies, even if only a small fraction remain in orbit.

It's very exciting to think that it's a manufactured construct, but I wouldn't be so sure yet.

it blocks a quarter of the light of a reasonably large star. There's no way a solid object that large ISNT significantly wobbling the star, but nothing like that is mentioned.